The health minister of British Columbia, Canada, has ordered an external review of the Cerner EHR system implementation project at Vancouver (Canada) Island Health Authority, a project that has raised patient safety concerns among physicians, some of whom returned to using a pen and paper for records, according to a Times Colonist report.
Island Health physicians have repeatedly asked officials to suspend the $174 million Cerner EHR project, citing software errors in medication orders and physician instructions that could lead to potential adverse events. Physicians in the intensive care unit and emergency department at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, one of the first Island Health go-live sites for the EHR, reverted to using paper orders.
Hospital officials have said the rollout of the EHR across Island Health will continue, and have called for changes to the implementation project such as providing more resources to address clinical staff fatigue and working with clinicians to evaluate further improvements to the EHR.
Health Minister Terry Lake ordered the third-party review of the EHR system "to acknowledge and address the concerns that have been raised, with the goal of ensuring safe, quality care for patients," he told Times Colonist.
The health system will continue using the EHR unless the review recommends doing otherwise. Mr. Lake reiterated that he does not believe patient safety is at immediate risk.
Dr. David Forrest, president of the 250-member Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Medical Staff Association, which has been critical of the EHR system, said the group is "very grateful for the minister's attention to this and intervention to facilitate this happening."
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