ABSTRACT
Tn 2000 the Institute of Medicine reported that medical errors and adverse drug events may be causing up to 98,000 deaths per year in the United States at a cost of $38 billton' They cited health information technology (HIT) as one potential solution that could enhance the safety, quality and efficiency of healthcare while reducing cost. Since that report the Federal Government has provided more than $1 billion in funding to support the implementation of HIT. However, recent evidence suggests that without consideration of human factors issues, HIT has the potential to actually introduce neHi medical errors and increase harm. \Ve report in this paper on our experiences with implementing HIT in real-world clinical environments and the reality of unintended and often unpredictable consequences.
