On Jan. 19, Ministry Good Samaritan Health Center in Merrill introduced computerized provider order entry and electronic clinical documentation advancements to their patient care and safety.
Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) is a system in which clinicians directly enter medication orders into a computer system which sends the order directly to the pharmacy.
“Until now, Good Samaritan utilized traditional paper-based patient records,” said Jackie Frombach RN, MSN, ONC Director Patient Care and Operations at Ministry Good Samaritan. “This project [CPOE] will focus on our inpatient area and will improve patient care by offering quicker access to patient records in a secure manner and improve medication safety.”
CPOE systems have become increasingly common in the inpatient setting as a strategy to reduce medication errors. A CPOE system ensures standardized, legible, and complete orders and thus has the potential to greatly reduce errors at the ordering and transcribing stages. Some of the CPOE capabilities built into the system include, appropriate medication dosing instructions, medication reconciliation (comparing medications to ensure there aren’t any dangerous interactions or allergies) and eliminating the need for hand-written orders.
Ministry Health Care is a leader in using advanced technology that helps ensure patients receive the right dose of the right drug at the right time. CPOE will provide outstanding enhancements for patient safety. Under these systems, documentation will occur in real-time, giving clinicians faster diagnostic results that can improve aspects of patient care.