Poor Usability of Electronic Health Records Can Lead to Drug Errors, Jeopardizing Pediatric Patients
While digital records have improved the delivery of health care and introduced features—such as alerts about potential drug allergies—that can prevent medical errors and patient harm, they have also created unforeseen safety risks and contributed to serious mistakes in treatment. Unintended consequences have resulted from challenges with electronic health records’ (EHRs) usability—meaning the design of these tools, how they’re implemented, and the way clinicians use them.