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Health IT and Patient Safety
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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report To Err Is Human estimated that 44,000-98,000 lives are lost every year due to medical errors in hospitals and led to the widespread recognition that health care is not safe enough, catalyzing a revolution to improve the quality of care.1 Despite considerable effort, patient safety has not yet improved to the degree hoped for in the IOM report Crossing the Quality Chasm. One strategy the nation has turned to for safer, more effective care is the widespread use of health information technologies (health IT).2 The U.S. government is investing billions of dollars toward meaningful use of effective health IT so all Ameri- cans can benefit from the use of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014. Health IT is playing an ever-larger role in the care of patients, and some components of health IT have significantly improved the quality of health care and reduced medical errors. Continuing to use paper records can place patients at unnecessary risk for harm and substantially constrain the country’s ability to reform health care. However, concerns about harm from the use of health IT have emerged. To protect America’s health, health IT must be designed and used in ways that maximize patient safety while minimizing harm.
Committee on Patient Safety and Health Information Technology; Institute of Medicine - Organizational Body
978-0-309-22112-2
NONE
Healthcare Management
English
2012
1-235
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