ABSTRACT
A 600-bed hospital implemented a new vendor electronic health record (EHR). The EHR utilized a third-party medication database to provide alerts on drug-drug interactions. Like many medication alert systems, the alert was configured as a “pop-up” window with a hard stop. In fact, several medication allergy incidents were reported to the hospital pharmacy. Medication alerting to avoid errors and interaction problems is viewed as a significant potential benefit of electronic health records. In general, clinicians will find the easiest way possible to get past the pop-up window to complete the medication ordering task additionally, the visual similarity of the allergy alert pop-up to the “major” drug-drug interaction alert pop-up was a poor choice from a usability standpoint. In addition to the widespread belief that computerized physician order entry, coupled with medication safety alerts, improves patient care safety and quality, these tools save clinician time and clinical operating costs.
