Emory Case

• What are main reasons why Emory decided to implement CPOE systems? Were these good reasons? 
• Emory's Healthcare was one of the largest health care systems in Georgia. With over 1100 licensed patient beds, 9000 employees, and 1000 community physicians, keeping track of the patients record was a very complex system. Prior to CPOE going live, Emory placed all of their orders hand written through an order sheet. Communication wise, verbal orders we're allowed and all orders for medications were faxe or scanned then sent to the pharmacy.

• Why won’t CPOE’s eliminate all medical errors? 
• Although CPOE's dramatically improved their system and was overall very satisfying for physicians and employees at Emory. With that being said, not all of medical errors can be eliminated. Regardless if it is paper or electronic, there always is a possibility that one can enter in the order incorrectly. Whether it is for the wrong patient because the mouse was a little off and physically typing in the incorrect part, CPOE's are not capable of eliminating ALL of the medical errors because of the human mistakes.  

• Are there any suggestions you have for how to create a culture where people are willing to adapt to unforeseen problems with such a complex system like EHRs and CPOE?   Have you had to go through any major system changes in other parts of your life.
• I believe a potential issue with things such as this are the users of the systems. Regardless of the industry, there is always a big range in terms of age of the users of the systems. A young physician who just got out of medical school is obviously going to be much more adaptable to a electronic system change such as CPOE compared to an older generation. It is necessarily the actual system that causes this chaos, but I believe it is more of the concept of change.