Use of an advanced EHR system could reduce patient safety events, according to research from Carnegie Mellon and the ECRI institute, which examined patient safety outcomes due to advanced EHR implementation.
Researchers set out to quantify the effect of EHR use on patient safety events between 2005 and 2012, the data for which was collected by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority.
During the period of data collection, advanced EHR implementation was associated with a 27 percent decline in patient safety events, with a 30 percent decline in medication errors and a 25 percent decline in medical complications.
The study authors report the findings are "evidence to policy makers, hospital administrators and other stakeholders that hospitals' adoption of advanced EMRs improves patient safety."
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