Health IT Slashes Rx Errors

The use of electronic prescribing and electronic adverse-event reporting in the psychiatric unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore resulted in a dramatic decline in medication errors, according to the largest study to date of a program designed to reduce psychiatric medication errors.

Using health IT to manage the prescribing and distribution of drugs cut the medication error rate from 27.89 per 1,000 patient days to 3.43 per 1,000 patient days over a five-year period, according to a study in the March Journal of Psychiatric Practice. The findings, which are available to subscribers, were reported by amednews.com.

Additionally, no patients died or had permanent adverse effects from the 617,524 drug doses administered in the 88-bed psychiatric unit. The study was conducted from 2003 to 2007.

The researchers reported that e-prescribing dramatically reduced mistakes caused by illegible handwriting and helped medical personnel to head off potentially harmful drug interactions, according to the amednews.com report. Clinicians were able to use a Web-based portal to report mistakes and problems that required follow-up.

The hospital provided "continuous feedback as errors occurred" during the study period, according to an abstract of the Journal article published by the National Institutes of Health.