JAMA Study Indentifies CPOE Unintended Consequences
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association looks at the types of unintended consequences related to Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) implementation. An panel of experts provided initial examples of adverse unintended consequences of CPOE. The authors, using qualitative methods, gathered and analyzed additional examples from five successful CPOE sites. Then they categorized 79 unintended consequences initially identified and modified the category scheme to categorize 245 additional adverse consequences resulting from fieldwork.
The paper concluded that unintended adverse consequences (UACs) “fell into nine major categories (in order of decreasing frequency): 1) more/new work for clinicians; 2) unfavorable workflow issues; 3) never ending system demands; 4) problems related to paper persistence; 5) untoward changes in communication patterns and practices; 6) negative emotions; 7) generation of new kinds of errors; 
unexpected changes in the power structure; and 9) overdependence on the technology.”
June 26, 2006 Related topics: IT & software