| Electronic medical records may dramatically | | | | medical interactions or conditions of a patient. |
| improve the diagnosis, management and care of | | | | According to a “Safety in Prescribing” |
| patients, according to a Kaiser Permanente study | | | | study in Archives of Internal Medicine, safety |
| from the September 2007 issue of the Journal of | | | | alerts that appear in electronic medical records |
| the American Geriatrics Society. This study | | | | reduce potentially dangerous interactions of |
| reports that electronic medical records improve | | | | co-prescriptions. |
| the quality of health care overall and may result in | | | | “This study shows that safety alerts in |
| quicker diagnosis and response time to critical | | | | electronic medical records are a powerful tool to |
| needs. | | | | help clinicians make decisions about what drugs |
| Electronic medical records can also enable the | | | | they should prescribe for their patients,” says |
| study of data from an entire population in ways | | | | Adrianne Feldstein, MD, MS, lead author of the |
| not previously possible: allowing conditions to be | | | | study and an investigator at Kaiser |
| analyzed to determine what treatments work and | | | | Permanente’s Center for Health Research. |
| what do not, finding patterns of care that are | | | | “We compared the effects of two |
| more effective, and defining the | | | | interventions in outpatient clinical settings – |
| cost-effectiveness of various techniques and | | | | safety alerts in electronic medical records versus |
| approaches for optimal care. By being able to | | | | safety alerts plus clinician education courses. We |
| track larger amounts of data than ever before, | | | | found that adding clinician education to electronic |
| medical teams can track vital medical data | | | | medical records safety alerts did not reduce the |
| without the need for costly and cumbersome | | | | rates of co-prescribing medications that interact |
| voluntary studies. Lives might be saved by | | | | any more than electronic medical records safety |
| following and analyzing diagnosis and treatment | | | | alerts alone. The reason is unclear, but it may be |
| across a large group of patients and new solutions | | | | that the ‘just in time’ information |
| could be discovered through new found research | | | | provided by safety alerts is more useful to |
| data. These are the positive influences that | | | | clinicians than education courses.” |
| electronic medical records may supply on the | | | | Electronic medical records may help save lives, |
| research side, but every day solutions are also | | | | especially when they are properly implemented |
| provided. | | | | and understood. For more information about a |
| The safety alerts, built into many electronic | | | | reliable electronic medical record system, contact |
| medical record systems, may draw attention to | | | | e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record |
| life-threatening situations. Imagine a patient seen | | | | software provision. e-MDs offers a host of |
| by two separate doctors. These doctors each | | | | affordable solutions for physicians and facilities |
| prescribe separate medication that could harmfully | | | | looking to modernize or enhance their services |
| interact, medication that is somehow not noted or | | | | with the latest EMR technology. e-MDs is |
| brought to the second doctor’s attention. This | | | | committed to providing operational solutions and |
| could have a potentially fatal consequence. With a | | | | delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in |
| electronic medical record systems, doctors are | | | | today’s medical field. |
| alerted instantly to any potentially dangerous | | | | |