Providers seek to better control controlled substances

Synthetic opioids were developed with the best of intentions — to harness the well-known sedative and pain-relieving qualities of opium without the harmful side effects. And, for the better part of a century, they have largely done that, as long as physicians prescribed them appropriately and patients carefully followed their doctors’ orders.

When overprescribed or misused, however, opioids and other powerful controlled substances can fuel cycles of dependence and addiction, sometimes with lethal consequences.

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 truth about 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.

Webinar covers new standard coming September 1

Back in 2000, Donald M. Berwick, then CEO at the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement, coauthored an editorial article lamenting the persistence of paper medical records and handwritten prescriptions.

You know that feeling you get when you replace your microwave oven, buy a bigger TV, or finally decide to get a new car? What you had was very good, and you were comfortable with it. But after a few days or weeks of the new model, you can’t believe what you were missing!

When it comes to selecting a new physician, patients today have quite a few options to choose from. By doing a quick search on the internet, patients will not only find out what is expected from healthcare practices but also find out how an individual practice fares against the competition. Just because a patient initially chooses a practice, doesn’t mean they’ll continue coming back. Read on to learn about four ways that could help you attract new patients and also keep them coming back to receive care.

Patient safety is something I could talk about over and over; patient safety has always played —and always will play — a central role in the success of Eagle Physicians and Associates down here in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

In 1968, Dr. Joel J. Nobel, a surgeon at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Hospital, warned administrators that a hospital defibrillator wasn’t working. That same week, a 4-year-old patient died because of the same device.

It requires a great product and great training

Beginning in the early 1980s, a transformation of American medicine began that few medical professionals foresaw. And it wasn’t a miracle drug, a research breakthrough, or some dreaded new disease that did it. It was, to put it simply, the computer.

Technology continues to advance in healthcare, but an epidemic of physician burnout continues to threaten the quality of both the doctor’s and the patient’s experience. Between 2011 and 2014, burnout increased from 45.5% to 54.4%, according to the American Journal of Medicine. That had a negative impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and provider and patient satisfaction. While some EHR companies’ solutions may actually make the burnout problem worse by forcing providers to spend even more time on their computers, eClinicalWorks is providing tools that help providers actually reduce the risks of burnout.