Hospitals outfitted with fully-implemented EHRs are less likely to make overdosing errors when treating heart attack patients and are more likely to follow guideline-recommended care, according to a new study.
Kansas City-based University of Missouri researchers examined patient data from three groups: patients who received care from a hospital with a fully-implemented EHR, patients who received care from a hospital with a partially-implemented EHR and patients who received care from a hospital with no EHR. Hospitals with no EHR produced 27.1 percent higher rates of heparin overdose.
"EHR use was associated with some markers of patient safety, such as less frequent heparin overdosing, and slightly greater use of evidence-based therapies," the authors wrote. "However, associations with adverse outcomes after [myocardial infarctions] were mixed."