Comprehensive evaluation of using computerised provider order-entry system for hospital discharge orders.

BACKGROUND: Computerised prescriptions for Hospital Discharge Orders (HDO) are used world-wide to secure medication processes. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate physicians' adoption of computerised provider order-entry (CPOE) for HDO and the prescribing error rate of HDO in an acute medical care unit. SETTING: A prospective study was conducted in an internal medicine department over a six-month period. The use rate of CPOE for HDO edition, prescription lines concordance between CPOE-edited HDO, exit prescriptions transcribed in the discharge summary (DS), and prescribing error rate in CPOE-edited HDO were all evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 407 patients with HDO were included in the study. HDO were edited via CPOE system for 350 patients (86%), among which 124 (35%) were identically transcribed, 217 (62%) had discrepancies, and nine (3%) were not transcribed in the discharge summary (DS). Prescription errors were analysed using the total of 2,854 drugs prescribed on HDO. Although hospital pharmacists had signalled discrepancies and provided recommendations to the prescribers via alerting pharmaceutical interventions in CPOE 67 prescription errors (error rate of 2.3%) were found. Errors included 53 cases of refractory period disrespected, four cases of drug interactions, three cases of drug redundancies, and two cases of excessive dosage. CONCLUSION: This study highlights that most HDO were edited via the CPOE system. Together with pharmacist's interventions, the CPOE system contributed to reducing the prescription error rate in HDO. However, discrepancies in the recording process to DS were frequent, calling for reinforcement of error prevention strategies upon the integration of a CPOE system in the hospital's Electronic Health Records. Providing regular training for physicians is also a requirement.

Clinical and Socio-demographic Variables Associated with the Outcome of Vocational Rehabilitation Programs: A Community-Based Italian Study.

This study aims to identify clinical and socio-demographic variables associated with the outcome of vocational rehabilitation programs (VRPs). All users of an Italian Community Mental Health Centre (CMHC) included in VRPs delivered according to the model of Supported Employment in years 2011-2016 were retrospectively enrolled. Fifty users who ended the program with employment were compared with fifty users who dropped out, with respect to clinical and socio-demographic variables. VRPs lasting less than 6 months and oriented toward the competitive labor market had a higher probability of employment. Among users who successfully ended the VRP, the median of health interventions significantly decreased after employment. In the same group of users, less non-health interventions strictly linked to the VRP were required, when compared with users who dropped out. We conclude that employment is associated with improvement of users' clinical conditions and reduced workload for the CMHC.