The adoption rate of EHRs is on the rise. However, alongside the expected benefits to patient care are also potential risks to patient safety.
A study in Journal of Healthcare Risk Management surveyed the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management and the American Health Lawyers Association, mostly employed by a large system with some degree of EHR adoption, on their perceptions of the frequency and types of EHR-related adverse safety events.
Here are five statistics from the survey.
- More than half of respondents, 53 percent, indicated at least one EHR-related serious safety event occurred in the previous five years.
- 10 percent of respondents said their organization had experienced more than 20 events in the previous five years.
- Three common variables associated with EHR-related serious safety events were EHR workflow (63 percent), user familiarity with the system (63 percent) and integration with existing systems (59 percent).
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