This is the final blog in a series where we focus on how eClinicalWorks® continues to lead the healthcare IT industry in patient safety.
Achieving the highest possible levels of patient safety in healthcare IT is a multifaceted process that includes proper handling of Reportable Events, reducing the Mean Time to Repair any such events, and addressing critical details such as data truncation, the handling of special characters, and uncoded allergies.
The difference between a coded and uncoded allergy could be a matter of life and death. Each year in the United States, 200,000 people require emergency medical care for allergic reactions to food. And drug-based allergic reactions account for the most allergy-related deaths. These severe drug reactions may affect a staggering 10% of the world’s population — and many of these adverse interactions may have been prevented.
This is the third of five blogs in a series where we will focus on how eClinicalWorks® continues to lead the healthcare IT industry in patient safety.
Sometimes, you may have a lot to say online and there just isn’t enough room to say it. Worse yet, you may not even realize that there isn’t enough space and that half the things you had been writing out were not being communicated to other users or readers.
As irritating as this might be for a spreadsheet documenting how many bass you may have caught on a fishing trip, being unaware of certain character and symbol limitations regarding a patient visit in an Electronic Health Record (EHR) could lead to a potential patient safety issue.
All EHRs face data-entry limits, but an awareness of these limitations is what is critical to success. One missing symbol or an invisible line of text can be merely annoying in many contexts; in healthcare, it can have a serious impact on someone’s health.
This is the second of five blogs in a series on how eClinicalWorks® continues to lead the healthcare IT industry in patient safety.
All software is complicated, but software in the healthcare industry comes with an added twist: The safety of patients depends on the software being reliable and performing as expected each and every day. When safety problems — Reportable Events — arise, it is important to address them quickly and thoroughly.
A software company’s response to Reportable Events is measured by how long it takes on average to notify customers about them and develop fixes for them. That measure, which varies depending on the severity and urgency of a given risk, is known in the industry as Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). For example, low-risk events must meet an MTTR of 75 days or fewer, medium-risk events 45 days or fewer, and high-risk events within just seven days.
This is the first of five blogs in a series focusing on how eClinicalWorks® continues to lead the healthcare IT industry in patient safety.
Mistakes happen; it’s an unfortunate part of life, of being human. It’s what we learn and how we adapt after recognizing an error that prepares the way for a safer future for all and helps prevent similar incidents.
The chances of being harmed in a plane crash are one in 11 million. The chances of a patient being harmed while receiving care, much more likely – one in 300!.