Top 10 Health Technology Hazards For 2013

The evolution of healthcare information technology systems such as electronic health records (EHRs) has definitely helped improve quality and efficiency in healthcare. At the same time, there’s a growing level of complexity and opportunity for error. With increasing use of technology in healthcare, healthcare providers need to be wary of the associated risks with its use.

Now in its sixth year, ECRI Institute publishes an annual list of top hazards of technology in healthcare. The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list is updated each year based upon the prevalence and severity of incidents reported to ECRI Institute by healthcare facilities nationwide; information found in the Institute’s medical device problem reporting databases; and the judgment, analysis, and expertise of the organization’s multidisciplinary staff. Here are the group’s estimation of the most probable hazards which might crop up in 2013 because of use of technology in healthcare.

1.  Alarm hazards

2.  Medication administration errors using infusion pump

3.  Unnecessary radiation exposures and radiation burns during diagnostic radiology procedures

4.  Patient/data mismatches in EHRs and other health IT (HIT) systems

5.  Interoperability failures with medical devices and health IT systems

6. Air embolism hazards

7. Inattention to the needs of pediatric patients when using “adult” technologies

8. Inadequate reprocessing of endoscopic devices and surgical instruments

9. Caregiver distractions from smartphones and other mobile devices

10. Surgical fires

You can download the original report by registering here.

Here are the lists of Top hazards for 2010. for 2011 and for 2012

Photo credit: @Jacobsons on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Top 20 EMR Software Solutions

A very useful infographic provided by Capterra, the website which specializes in comparing business software. This infographic takes a look at the most popular EMR solutions in the market ( eClinicalWorks is number one) and grades them by total number of users, target audience, followers on social media etc.

© 2011 Capterra, Inc.
You can read about their reasoning and data analysis methods here.

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Indian Medical Association Plans Programs to Make Members Tech Savvy

The potential of improving Healthcare quality by proper use of technology is immense.Recent advances in information technology offer clinicians valuable new tools to support the medical management of patients. HIT has the potential to enable a dramatic transformation in the delivery of health care, making it safer, more effective, and more efficient.

The national unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to make its two lakh members across the country, especially senior medical practitioners, more tech savvy. The National vice-president of IMA, Dr Devendra Shirole says,“Short contact programs of four days will be organized at all local branches of the IMA. Doctors will be trained on how to use information technology for the betterment of medical profession and patents’ data collection.” He said the doctors will be also trained on using e-books in their daily practice.

The IMA will launch this project initially in Maharashtra and the inauguration will take place in Mumbai. Groups, formed for research purposes, will use information technology to study diseases and viruses.To undertake this vast project, talks are on with software companies to provide trainings and technical support, as well as help IMA build web pages for the same.

Also See:

• Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology
• Technoclinics- Upcoming scenario in India

Virtual Healthcare Center in Second Life

Image via Wikipedia

IBM Virtual Healthcare Island. 


The island is a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today's healthcare industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs.

The IBM Virtual Healthcare Island is designed with a futuristic atmosphere and provides visitors with an interactive demonstration of IBM’s open-standards-based Health Information Exchange (HIE) architecture. Working with project leads in the U.S., the island was designed and built by an all-IBM-India team.

Starting from the patient’s home, they create their own Personal Health Records (PHRs) in a secure and private environment and watch as it is incorporated into an array of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems that can be used at various medical facilities. As they move from one island station to the next, they experience how the development of a totally integrated and interoperable longitudinal Electronic Health Record (EHR) is used within a highly secured network that allows access only by patient-authorized providers and family members.

IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Industry will continue to develop the new island in months to come.  The island can perform as a virtually “always on” demonstration tool for IBM’s sales personnel.  A video version of the island is also under production.

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Electronic Medical Records - Hosted Vs SaaS

A very simple explanation of what an EMR is and what are the main 2 options of EMRs available.

1) Internally Hosted EMRs - like most famous EMRs, including VistA and OpenEMR

Here, the software is on a client server and is generally cut-off from the outside world. Some of these EMR packages also allow remote computers to log in into the software, thus adding 'web- enabled' feature.

2) Internet based/ Cloud Based EMRs - like Medscribbler

These EMRs reside in the cyberspace and access is via a website login. These services are typically priced based on number of doctors using it / number of patient entries / Periodic subscription fees.

               

Though the first type is considered more secure, it can be a pain to use. You would need a whole army of technicians to maintain a system like that in-house.The other option, of using a web based EMR provided as a service, would be my choice. It allows for easier to use interfaces (in my opinion), geographically free application (as it can be logged on to from clinic/hospital/home) and less expensive for small and mid sized practices.

Also Read-

List of open source healthcare software

GE Bets on EMR in The Cloud

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What Are Electronic Medical records: EMR primer

View more presentations from Neelesh Bhandari

Medical Error Rates Reduce Seven Fold with Electronic Prescribing !

There is a growing consensus that the implementation of health information technology should lead to more efficient, safer, and higher quality of care. The ever increasing burden of record keeping, to comply with the numerous regulations, makes shifting to Electronic prescribing a very attractive option. 

The benefits of shifting to EMRs and CPOEs are enormous.

• Less Paperwork
• Better Evidence based care
• Better Data collection
• and of course LESS ERRORS.

An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a study of 37 million patient records by HealthGrades

"For e-prescribing adopters, error rates decreased nearly sevenfold, from 42.5 per 100 prescriptions at baseline to 6.6 per 100 prescriptions one year after adoption. For non-adopters, error rates remained high at 37 per 100 prescriptions at baseline and 38 per 100 prescriptions at one year.


Illegibility errors were very high at baseline, and not surprisingly, were completely eliminated by e-prescribing (87.6 per 100 prescriptions at baseline for e-prescribing adopters, 0 at one year). Prescribing errors may occur much more frequently in community-based practices than previously reported. This study findings suggest that stand-alone e-prescribing with clinical decision support may significantly improve ambulatory medication safety.

 References:

 Electronic Prescribing Improves Medication Safety in Community-Based Office Practices. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2010.

(via)Electronic Prescribing Decreases Prescribing Errors Seven Fold:

Also read-

Electronic Medical Records Help Reduce Medical Errors

Better E.M.Rs to attain "Health Rights for All".

Image via WikipediaHeres a study on how Use of e-prescribing can lower health care costs, and bring health care services closer to all, without discrimination. This study quantifies the enormous savings that can be generated by a simple introduction of one more option within Electronic Medical records to choose the lowest cost generic amongst a preselected list of generic drugs (to ensure quality).

"Electronic prescribing(e-prescribing) systems that allow doctors to select lower cost or generic medications could save $845,000 per 100,000 patients per year and possibly more system-wide, according to findings from a new study.

Doctors using e-prescribing with formulary decision support, which accounted for more than 200,000 filled prescriptions in the study, increased their use of generic prescriptions by 3.3 percent.These changes were above and beyond the increased use of generics that occurred among all doctors and the already high rate of generic drug use in Massachusetts. Based on average costs for private insurers, study authors estimate that the use of e-prescribing could save $845,000 per 100,000 patients per year and generate even higher savings with greater use.

Researchers found that the doctors who wrote electronic prescriptions were slightly younger and more likely to be female than those who did not. In addition, internists, pediatricians, and family physicians made up nearly three-fourths of those who used e-prescribing. Of the 17.4 million prescriptions filled over the course of the study, about 212,000 were prescribed electronically. This study was funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality"

More use of I.T in health care will have a cascading effect on Health Rights for all as it increases affordability, efficiency, quality and information accessibility of health services. And these are few of the basic requirements of Health Rights for All.

 

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