Technology in Healthcare Safety Issues

Technology has allowed for advances in health care. It also creates safety issues in areas such as privacy, computer system malfunction and human error. Computer system malfunction can make electronic medical records (EMR) inaccessible, including important patient information such as medical history, allergies and medication lists. Human errors such as typographical mistakes create safety issues in health care systems that rely on accurate information.

Privacy

• Privacy laws protect the privacy of patients' personal information, including demographics, medical history and insurance information. Federal law requires that all patient information be kept confidential. By law, personal information may be shared only with those who need the information to provide a service.

  Technology used in health care must provide a way to ensure that patient information remains private. When unauthorized individuals are kept from accessing a patient's address or contact information, the patient is protected from identity theft, fraud and other threats.

Computer System Malfunction

• Computer system malfunction prevents health care providers from accessing needed information. Information stored on a computer system may be lost or corrupted. Health care providers rely on the patient data saved in the system to keep track of patients and their conditions and treatments.

  A patient's safety can be jeopardized when his physicians and nurses are denied access to his information. For example, if a patient's EMR states that the patient has an allergy to penicillin and the EMR is unavailable, his physician may prescribe penicillin and provoke an allergic reaction.

Human Error

• Human error such as typographical errors can lead to safety issues. An example of this is a medication dosage error. A physician writes a prescription instructing a patient to take one 1 mg pill daily. The information is entered into the computer to be filled as 10 mg tablets. This typographical error has the patient taking a much larger does than intended, which can lead to safety issues including medication overdose.

  Entering incorrect information into an EMR can also lead to safety issues. If a nurse brings summaries of physicians' orders for multiple patients to a receptionist at the same time, safety can become a concern. If the employee accidentally enters patient A's information into patient B's file, medical errors may result.