Post date: May 28, 2011 6:56:37 PM
"most physicians did not view the newer system as improving safety, despite more CDS features, and alert fatigue led to routine overriding of alerts" based on both survey and qualitative study of 17 physicians. That is the finding of "Transitioning Between Electronic Health Records: Effects on Ambulatory Prescribing Safety" just published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The transition from an older medication ordering system to a new CCHIT certified e-prescribing system was assessed by reviewing all prescriptions written by the observed physicians.
While no e-iatrogenesis errors were reported, the efficacy of e-prescribing is questioned in this study especially the alerts module. Given that "two thirds of respondents (n=10) reported that the speed in ordering and refilling medications was much worse or worse with the new system compared with the older system" one has to wonder what benefit e-prescribing is offering - perhaps it is more than an issue with alerts?