Malpractice Cases Involving Allergy Information in Electronic Health Records: Implications for Safer Systems

Almost every EHR system has a few clinical decision support functions that have been shown to improve the overall quality and safety of care.1 For example, computerized physician order entry (CPOE), which helps medical practitioners to enter medications or other instructions for the treatment of patients, has reduced medical errors and has standardized medication prescription practices.2, 3 A key element of CPOE is the allergy module that interacts with patients' allergy lists within the EHR. Methods This study was a retrospective descriptive cohort analysis of malpractice claims in the Comparative Benchmarking System (CBS) of Controlled Risk Insurance Company (CRICO), a medical professional liability insurer.12 The CBS is a national database of medical malpractice claims, including both inpatient and outpatient claims from academic and community hospitals. [...]two cases were identified in which allergy alerts that should have been activated did not work, for an unknown reason. "Effects of Computerized Physician Order Entry and Clinical Decision Support Systems on Medication Safety: A Systematic Review."