title: A clinical information system reduces medication errors in paediatric intensive care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effect of electronic prescribing (EP) with a clinical information system (Intellivue Clinical Information Portfolio, Philips, UK) on prescribing errors and omitted doses in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective audit of prescribing errors and omitted doses for 96 h periods in three epochs: (1) before implementation of EP, (2) 1 week and (3) 6 months later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a non-significant reduction in prescribing errors: 8.8% (95% CI 4.4-13.2) pre-implementation of EP versus 8.1% (4.4-11.8) 1 week after implementation and 4.6% (2.0-7.2) 6 months later. The prevalence of omitted doses decreased significantly 6 months following implementation, changing from 8.1% (5.8-10.4) pre-implementation to 10.6% (6.5-14.7) 1 week after implementation and 1.4% (CI 0-2.8%) 6 months after implementation (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EP within a clinical information system increases medication safety in a PICU.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, London, W2 1NY, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Warrick
authors.forename: Hetal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Naik
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Avis
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Bryony Dean
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Inwald
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D055695:Electronic Prescribing; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric / Q000592:standards*; D008131:London; D008485:Medical Audit; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017751:Safety Management