(PHILADELPHIA) - Researchers at the School of Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have developed a framework to help hospital managers, physicians, and nurses handle the tough challenges of implementing health information technology (HIT) by directly addressing the unintended consequences that undermine safety and quality.
As documented in a 2005 JAMA article by Penn’s Ross Koppel, PhD, computerized physician order entries, CPOE for short, reduce medication errors due to transcription or hand-writing deficiencies but produce many unintended consequences. For example, in some CPOE systems, physicians must enter the patient’s weight before ordering some types of medications. Physicians will often insert an estimated weight just to order the desired medication, without being able to indicate it as an estimation. That number is then used by subsequent physicians for medications requiring more careful weight measurements. Koppel is the Principal Investigator of an AHRQ-supported study of hospital workplace culture and medication error at Penn’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a faculty member in Penn’s Sociology Department.
In this new paper, co-authors Koppel, AHRQ’s Michael I. Harrison, PhD, and Shirly Bar-Lev, PhD, from the Ruppin Academic Center, Israel, show managers and clinicians how to avoid or catch unintended consequences before they cause lasting harm. This study appears in the September issue of the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association - JAMIA.
Use of sophisticated HIT in hospitals is increasing dramatically. In addition to CPOE, other examples in which unintended consequences can occur are decision support systems and electronic medical records. Health care facilities are investing millions of dollars in health care information technology as they seek to improve patient care, safety, efficiency, and cost savings. Yet the results are often disappointing, say the researchers.
“Managers and clinicians need to prevent more undesirable side effects and recognize unforeseeable consequences early on,” says lead author Harrison. “Then they can take steps to remedy them before damage mounts.”
The authors demonstrate how new HIT changes workplace processes and how practitioners alter these technologies during use. The authors call their new paradigm “Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis.”
“We are strong proponents of HIT,” say Harrison and Koppel. “But introducing HIT is not like adding a fax machine. HIT involves a whole set of activities and interactions with existing IT, people, the built environment, and with other systems. These interactions generate unpredictable developments. We map these developments to inspire greater awareness of IT implementation problems and increased action to improve new IT systems.”
“Decision makers are taking unnecessary risks if they wait for HIT projects to run for a year or two before doing a post-hoc evaluation,” observes Harrison. “Real time evaluations can reveal unintended consequences as they emerge, allowing remedial action to be taken.”
###
PENN Medicine is
a $3.5 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions
of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in
patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical
school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn's School of Medicine is currently ranked #3 in the
nation in U.S.News & World Report's survey of top research-oriented
medical schools; and, according to most recent data from the
National Institutes of Health, received over $379 million in
NIH research funds in the 2006 fiscal year. Supporting 1,400
fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is
recognized worldwide for its superior education and training
of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders
of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes
three hospitals — its flagship hospital,
the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, rated one of
the nation’s “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S.News & World
Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center — a
faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty
satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.