Research Matters
The impact of our research on healthcare policy and practice...
Dr. Sittig cited in the Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert (Issue 42, December 11, 2008)
Safely implementing health information and converging technologies. This alert reports that, as health information technology (HIT) and converging technologies are increasingly adopted by health care organizations, users must be mindful of the safety risks and preventable adverse events that these implementations can create or perpetuate.
Dr. Sittig's paper (Campbell EM, Sittig DF, Ash JS, Guappone KP, Dykstra RH. Types of unintended consequences related to computerized provider order entry. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, September/October 2006, 13(5):547-556) found that "Unintended adverse consequences (UACs) fell into nine major categories (in order of decreasing frequency): 1) more/new work for clinicians; 2) unfavorable workflow issues; 3) never ending system demands; 4) problems related to paper persistence; 5) untoward changes in communication patterns and practices; 6) negative emotions; 7) generation of new kinds of errors; 8) unexpected changes in the power structure; and 9) overdependence on the technology. Clinical decision support features introduced many of these unintended consequences." They concluded, "Identifying and understanding the types and in some instances the causes of unintended adverse consequences associated with CPOE will enable system developers and implementers to better manage implementation and maintenance of future CPOE projects,"
http://www.jointcommission.org/SentinelEvents/SentinelEventAlert/sea_42.htm
Center members cited
The AHRQ report on "Enabling Medication Management Through Health Information Technology" cited ten papers by Center members McCoy, Singh, and Sittig.
NPR Story Addresses Patient Safety and Privacy
Dr. Sittig, in an interview with NPR, describes the need for a balance between patient privacy and clinician access to improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs.
Safety Culture
