Emory Case Study

The main reasons why Emory decided to implement CPOE systems were to reduce the number of medication errors, as before CPOE went live, physicians at Emory would place orders by writing them on an order sheet attached to the patient chart, and in some cases, they would call a nurse to write the orders on the order sheets. When this happens, it was not uncommon for the physicians to sign off orders that weren’t verified correctly by the nurses. There’s also the concern of lost paperwork, or illegible orders. Therefore CPOE systems are mainly designed to reduce, or eliminate handwritten orders.

These are all good reasons, but CPOE did not exactly eliminate all medical errors as some physicians, who are not as familiar with technology, would often put in the order for the wrong patient. However, it is definitely more efficient, as the doctors have the responsibility to enter in the order themselves, and they are entering it into the computer so it improved legibility.

Before adapting to CPOE systems, physicians would communicate verbally to the nurses to place the work order, but now with CPOE, every work order is now computerized. Physicians can enter in the information themselves digitally, and medication and other orders can be placed correctly.

Workaround, is when you use other methods than what the system is originally designed for, to get the work done. An example of this would be the physicians letting nurses place orders, without entirely verifying it, instead of writing it down themselves. I personally did not have much of an experience in working around the technologies that I use.

Some suggestions that I have for creating a culture where people are willing to adapt to unforeseen problems while using complex system like EHRs and CPOE, would be to just take it slowly step by step, and to train physicians to use technology. The systems should also be more user-friendly. Developers should work with physicians and nurses to develop one that would help them understand how to use the software better. I don’t exactly remember any major system changes while using computers, but while I was in my java programming class, I was first introduced Dr. Java, and then later introduced to Eclipse, which checks the java code more efficiently, but there’s more shortcut buttons that you need to familiarize yourself with to make use of the software.