Errors Drop 66% When Doctors Computerize Prescriptions

Medication errors such as prescribing or administering the wrong drugs to patients dropped 66% in hospitals used a computerized system to record doctors' orders.

Prescription errors costing each U.S. hospital as much as $5.6 million a year declined when doctors directly entered their instructions into an electronic system, rather than having staff transcribe handwritten notes, according to a review by the University of Minnesota of 12 separate studies.

"The problem is more complicated than bad handwriting or individual negligence," said Tatyana A. Shamliyan, a research associate at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. "There are several steps, and through all the steps errors can be introduced."

Switching from handwritten prescriptions to direct computer entry by doctors would reduce the medication errors that injure or kill half a million patients each year, the researchers said.

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