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ONE SIMPLE MISTAKE COULD CAUSE A LIFE
KIMBERLY SANCHEZ
MR. MOBERLY
MAY 7, 2014

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Executive Summary

Switching from health providers has, from time to time, been a difficult process to fulfill
because either they misplace medical records or patients files are mistaken. The loss of personal
information has been a problem that has increased over time and has caused various
misunderstandings such as providing incorrect prescribed medications and/or performing the wrong
operation on a patient. It is essential to find a solution to these forms of mishaps because medical
errors affect each and every one of us. Finding a solution, even if it is as simple as switching from
paper files to electronic files can help reduce the number of incidents caused unintentionally by
hospitals.















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Background/Problem

Throughout history there has been medical errors committed by medical staff. Medical
errors can derive from the simplest mistakes and have been affecting the lives of many patients.
The United States is an advanced country, but is lacking technological resources in the medical
field. There should be more vigilance when handling patient records, according to a news report on
ABC, medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. It is a
shame medical errors are one of the top leading causes of death in America. In 2002, there was a
study made by the Institute of Medicine that focused on the medication errors that occurred in
thirty-six different health care facilities. Scientists shadowed nurses, took notes, and then studied
patients files and compared them to the notes they had taken. When an error came up, they would
classify the errors in eight different categories ranging from: unauthorized drug, extra dose, wrong
dose, omission of drug, wrong route, wrong form, wrong technique, and lastly drugs given at the
wrong time. According to this study, 19% of the doses were in error (Barker). Shockingly, when
organized into categories, the most frequent errorswere wrong time (43%), omission (30%),
wrong dose (17%), and unauthorized drug (4%) (Barker, 1897). This alone, counts for an
immense amount of record errors and can jeopardize the life of many patients.
In the journal article, Health Information Technology: Are We Aware and Engaged, Brent
Fox undertakes an exploration on the benefits of using technology in the pharmaceutical
environment. Fox gives an example of then-President George W. Bush stating that by
computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs, and



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improve care (1). He believed that the office of the National Coordinator for health Information
Technology [would aid in] overseeing the nations efforts of the implementation in new technology
(Brent 1). In his first term, Barack Obama, had an interest of supporting President Bushs idea by
allocating $30 billion [in 2009]to support implementation of health information technology (1).
It has been ten years since the idea was proposed but yet no changes have been made. This
demonstrates that the attention given to the medical field is neglected and in need of improvement.

Solution
Most of Europe recently changed from paper files to electronic files in 2010 and has not
encountered many problems since their swap. The UK was part of the countries that also undertook
implementing electronic patient records in their medical offices. There was a study conducted in
2007 that was published in the Health Informatics Journal that determined the impact of electronic
patient records; the study demonstrated the effect of patients being able to check in with their
fingerprints and the impact on patients being able to see their past consultation records. At the end
of the study, it was proven to reduce consultation length and guarantee patient privacy. The United
States should try to implement technology in the medical field by using other countries success as
guidance.
There was a study at Bury Knowle Health Centre in Oxford that examined the satisfaction of
patients who used electronic records to view personal health information. The first 100 patients to
indicate interest in going over their records were able to utilize the electronic system. Out of the
100 respondents, 65 were women (ages 18 to 84) and 35 were men (ages 19 to 81). Technological




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lkjkjj knowledge was not required to become part of the study; there were professionals to aid individuals
and to walk them through the process. This gave patients the opportunity to view past records and
point out any mistakes in their files, which was great because about 70% of patients found at least
one error or omission on their file (Pyper 40). Not only was it effective for record documentation,
but patients were also satisfied with being able to see their past consultations because sometimes
the errors would come up when two patients were registered under the same name (Pyper 40). User
47 believes it will save time, money, and even lives in the long run (Pyper 40). The outcome of
using technology proved patient satisfaction with the system.
The effectiveness of electronic records should not be the only important matter; the
thoughts of patients should also be taken under consideration. Electronic records would provide
patients the opportunity to be able to access their past consultation records. In the research
performed in the UK, patients were asked for their opinion on the new system and most patients
were satisfied. As stated by the Health Informatics Journal, 90 per cent concurred with 14 out of
15 patients who had used the PAERS [(Patient Access to Electronic Healthcare Records System)]
systemexpress[ed]that it had made consultation more efficient (Cauldwell 157). Patients who
had already experienced the new system were more content when they walked in for consultation.
Although it may be true that installing electronic patient record systems has some risks,
such as the systems crashing or hacking into other patients files, there are ways in which the
hospital can secure patient information. If the system ever crashes, it should be enforced to
hospitals utilizing the program to ensure back-up systems are in place (Hutchison 64). To
guarantee effectiveness, it is also recommended to have appointment cards and clinic lists



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printed, but [the hospital should be] wary of duplicating records, as they will not be
synchronized with electronic files (Hutchison 64). Following simple procedures should prove
fewer accidents when handling patients records.
Security also goes hand in hand with backing up a system because hospitals need to be
careful with the valuable information of patients. The same precautions that we take to ensure our
personal privacy should be applied to the online systems because electronic records need
passwords that are changed regularly and kept secure in order to insure patient privacy (Hutchison
64). There should be no problem with systems being hacked as the same simple advice of internet
surfing should be taken into consideration, such as logging off or locking the computer after one is
done using the system and not leaving any screens visible to the public eye because it contains
confidential data.
There have been various studies that critique how well electronic patient records are in the
sense of patient safety. One that stood out was the case study done to nurses of a hospital of
southeast Sweden. The study consisted of an open discussion with nurses of their opinion on
electronic patients from the experience of dealing with electronic files themselves. The study
points out many great advantages that electronic files may provide to the hospital as well as to the
patients in a medical environment, nurses are fighting over patient charts to look up or input new
information, and electronic records vanishes this issue. Having the opportunity to open a patient
file in any computer with the necessary program, allow[ed] many users [to] access [records] at the
same time (Stevenson 671). Having electronic records will make the patient file more accessible
for other specialists on a different floor of the hospital to access and will avoid the request of a hard



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hard copy file. Requesting hard copies of a file can lead to misplacement and misinformation from
one file to the other which can be severe for the patient if there is no care when handling
confidential information.
In the same discussion, a common complain amongst patients and medical staff was fixed
by simply switching to electronic records. The health of the patients should be safer through
electronic files than in paper files. There would no longer be any misunderstandings with written
prescriptions or instructions. As stated in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, EPR [(electronic
patient records)] aims to improve patient safety and documentation quality (668). One of the
registered nurses interviewed confessed that medical staff was able to read the drugs prescribed
since the legibility of the typed information was easier and neater to read (Stevenson 672). This
meant that if nurses were able to understand the prescription, then there would be correct
medications and correct doses given to the correct patients, which came down to making fewer
errors.

Conclusion
Establishing electronic patient records in hospitals of the United States will save the hassle
of misplacing important information. The benefits of electronic medical records outweigh the risks
by guarantying patient privacy, allowing easy access between different facilities, offering patient
satisfaction, and having legibility of electronic files. Taking under consideration the success of
other countries will facilitate the medical service for future generations as well as continue to
improve medical service over the years.


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Barker, K. N. "Medication Errors Observed in 36 Health Care Facilities." Archives of Internal
Medicine 162.16 (2002): 1897-903.
Cauldwell, M. R., C. E. Beattie, B. M. Cox, W. J. Denby, J. A. Ede-Golightly, and F. L. Linton.
"The Impact of Electronic Patient Records on Workflow in General Practice." Health
Informatics Journal 13.2 (2007): 155-60.
Fox, Brent I. "Health Information Technology: Are We Aware and Engaged?" American Journal of
Pharmaceutical Education 77.6 (2013): 113.
Hutchinson, Christine, Tony Matthews, and Christine Sharples. "Get Ready, For The Records
Switch. (Cover Story)." Nursing Standard 21.21 (2007): 64. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
"Is Your Hospital Stay Saving or Hurting You?" Consumer Reports: Hospital Safety Rated on
Mortality. Trans. Ric Romero. Ed. John James. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2014.
Pyper, Cecilia, Justin Amery, Marion Watson, and Claire Crook. "Abstract." National Center for
Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 June 0005. Web. 30 Apr.
2014.
Stevenson, Jean E., and Gunilla Nilsson. "Nurses Perceptions of an Electronic Patient Record from
a Patient Safety Perspective: A Qualitative Study." Journal of Advanced Nursing 68.3
(2012): 667-76.




Works Cited
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