EHR associated with fewer in-hospital adverse events

Editor's Note

Pneumonia, cardiovascular, and surgery patients whose treatments were entered into a fully electronic health record (EHR) were between 17% and 30% less likely to experience in-hospital adverse events, this study finds.

Among the findings:

• Pneumonia patients had 35% lower odds of adverse drug events, 34% lower odds of hospital-acquired infections, and 25% lower odds of general events.
• Cardiovascular surgery patients had 31% lower odds of postoperative events and 21% fewer general events.
• Surgery patients had 36% lower odds of hospital-acquired infections.

The analysis included Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System data for 45,235 patients who were exposed to 347,281 adverse events. 

Journal of Patient Safety: doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000257 Original Article: PDF Only Abstract Objective: Nationwide initiatives have focused on improving patient safety through greater use of health information technology. We examined the association of hospitals' electronic health record (EHR) adoption and occurrence rates of adverse events among exposed patients.