Post date: Jul 1, 2011 5:40:32 PM
JAMIA published online on June 29th the article "Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems" by Nanji et al. They report one in ten e-scripts have errors (depending upon application) similar to manual prescribing. They point out the "lack of comprehensive functionality and processes" that prevent meaningful use.
A related article in the June 14th online version (i.e., related to computerized processes) is titled "Handling anticipated exceptions in clinical care: investigating clinician use of ‘exit strategies’ in an electronic health records system". Clinicians need to 'exit' unwanted situations that are beyond problems associated with early system usage. These exceptions persist just as they do in e-commerce (e.g., abandoning shopping carts). Perhaps it is poor system design but more likely a lack of understanding of the variations encountered in practice.