effect of a well-designed computerized physician order entry on medication error reduction

Introduction: Paper-based prescription orders, commonly having numerous medication errors, can increase adverse drug events [ADEs] and threaten the patients safety

Computerized physician order entry [CPOE], as an appropriate alternative, can significantly reduce medication errors. This study aimed to investigate the effects of well-designed CPOE in reducing medication errors and ADEs

Method: Electronic databases including EBSCO Host, Web of Science, PubMed, SID, Google Scholar, Iranmedex, Irandoc were used to conduct the literature review. We reviewed all the papers published about CPOE and its impacts on medication errors from 1998 until 2015. Thus 56 articles were found

Considering the relevance of their title and abstract with the objectives of the study, and deleting repetitive cases, 32 articles were selected, among which 10 articles were directly related to the objectives of the study

Results: A number of studies indicate that CPOE can reduce the incidence of serious medication errors and ADEs. Nonetheless, there is evidence indicating that CPOE could negatively affect the patients health if the system is not well-designed

Conclusion: The replacement of conventional, paper-based prescription orders with well-designed CPOEs in hospitals could play a key role in minimizing medication errors and improving the patients' safety. To this end, the CPOEs have to be designed according to recent standards and needs

Telesurgery information management systems in university hospitals of Tehran

This is a descriptive study with research population coming from "telesurgery information management systems" in 23 teaching hospitals of Shahid Beheshti and Tehran universities of medical sciences in 2011.The study used stratified and simple random sampling methods for subject selection, followed by observation and interview for data collection. According to the results, video camera with 100% application, was the most frequently used equipment in the hospitals for telesurgery data gathering. Visual data analysis for developing three dimensional models was common just in 10% of hospitals. Fiber Optic and satellite, with 40% application rate, were the most frequently used telecommunication equipments in the hospitals. The study indicated the significance of accurate and appropriate management of telesurgery information as the first step for appropriate implementation of telesurgery programs in Iran