Article
A survey among health care professionals regarding electronic health record systems
Search Medline for
Authors
-
Martina P. Neininger
- Zentrum für Arzneimittelsicherheit und Klinische Pharmazie, Institut für Pharmazie, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
-
Lisa M. Bellstedt
- Zentrum für Arzneimittelsicherheit und Klinische Pharmazie, Institut für Pharmazie, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
-
Thilo Bertsche
- Zentrum für Arzneimittelsicherheit und Klinische Pharmazie, Institut für Pharmazie, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| Published: | November 23, 2018 |
|---|
Outline
Text
Background: Electronic health record systems including clinical decision support become more and more available in hospitals. In order to effectively improve drug safety and to prevent new systematic risks, those systems should be adjusted to the demands and requirements of the end users. Therefore, we aimed at gaining a comprehensive overview of the demands and expectations of the future users concerning those systems.
Materials and methods: We performed a survey using structured face-to-face interviews with physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. For each step of the medication process, we asked the participants to describe the current process flow. Further, we collected information on the participant’s conception of an ideal process flow.
Results: We conducted a total of 53 interviews (27 physicians, 19 nurses, 7 pharmacists). For each step of the medication process – drug anamnesis, drug substitution at admission, prescription, preparation of the drug administration, drug administration, drug substitution at discharge – more than 75% of the respondents considered the introduction of an electronic health record system to be beneficial. According to the nurses, the most frequent problems in drug prescribing were missing dosage (10/19, 53%), missing dosage form (9/19, 47%), lacking up-to-dateness, poor legibility, and prescription of drugs that are not in stock (each 8/19, 42%). 22/27 (81%) of the physicians performed drug safety checks (e.g. concerning interactions); 18 of those did so without any special means of support, 3 used a specific app. 24/27 (89%) physicians favoured a structured electronic drug safety check. 21/27 (78%) physicians and all pharmacists wished for interdisciplinary collaboration to improve drug safety.
Conclusion: The majority of the respondents considered the introduction of an electronic health record system to support the medication process to be useful. This indicates a high level of acceptance. In this context, the participants considered the interdisciplinary teamwork to be an important element to implement and use such systems in routine care.
