Information Systems and Patient Care

Jenna Hetland

Overview

• Prevalence and Causes of Medical Errors

• Current Research and Solutions

• Emergence of Intelligent Agents

• Proposed Direction of Research

Prevalence and Causes of Medical Errors

• Between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths attributed to medical error each year

• Adverse drug events alone account for over 7,000 deaths annually– More than workplace injuries

• These figures are for deaths only, not occurrences

• Errors are a systems problem, not the result of individual carelessness– Other high-risk industries have abandoned the

error-free operator mentality– Attacking problems from a systems viewpoint

has proven successful

• Errors are not discrete events

• Systems are constantly changing

Prevalence and Causes of Medical Errors

Current Research and Solutions

• Error reporting systems– Personnel must accurately recall the events

surrounding the incident– Error would need to be reported multiple times

before root cause could be identified– A reactive solution

Current Research and Solutions

• Implementation of Information Systems– Many have been aimed at optimizing time

resources of medical personnel– Are task-specific– Current systems do not promote the qualities

necessary for effective information systems– Over half have failed because of resistance on

behalf of medical personnel

Emergence of Intelligent Agents

• An alternative to traditional systems• Possess many qualities suitable for use in

the healthcare domain• Support initiatives necessary for effective

information systems• Preliminary investigation has shown them

to be effective• Obstacles still remain

Proposed Direction of Research

• Integrate essential tasks as well as optimize conditions for the patient

• Use of patient-centric autonomous agents

• Occurrence of adverse drug events within the prescription renewal process– Great deal of information passed between

personnel– Monetary discrepancy

Questions?