Unintended consequences

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Several researchers conducting separate studies in the United States, The Netherlands, and Australia, using similar qualitative methods to investigate implementing patient care information systems (PCISs), have encountered many instances in which these applications seem to foster errors rather than reduce their likelihood. The errors fall into two main categories:

  1. The process of entering and retrieving information
  2. The communication and coordination process that the PCIS is supposed to support

Summary: The authors believe that with a heightened awareness of these issues, informaticians can educate, design systems, implement, and conduct research in such a way that they might be able to avoid the unintended consequences of these subtle silent errors.

References

Ash JS, Berg M, Coiera E. Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: the nature of patient care information system-related errors. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2004 Mar-Apr;11(2):104-12.