The ECRI Institute has released its first annual list of the top 10 patient safety concerns for hospitals and health systems based on analysis of more than 30,000 patient safety incidents and other research.
The top spot on the list went to data integrity failures within health IT systems. This includes data entry errors, missing or incomplete patient data, unsafe use of default values, copying and pasting old information, relying on a hybrid paper-electronic record system and patient matching errors.
"Health IT systems are very complex," said James P. Keller, vice president of technology evaluation and safety at the ECRI Institute, in the report. "They are managing a lot of information, and it's easy to get something wrong."
The report recommends providers take the following steps to help reduce patient safety incidents caused by data errors:
- Assess the clinical workflow to understand how the data is, or will be, used by frontline staff
- Test the system and the associated interfaces, preferably in a simulated setting, to verify the system is functioning correctly
- Provide sufficient user training and support
- Establish a way for users to report problems as they are discovered
More Articles on Data Integrity:
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ECRI Releases Top 10 Health Technology Hazards
4 Strategies to Protect Integrity of Healthcare Quality Data