New IOM Report Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care

[rninformatics, DNP, RN]

Enjoy

healthITbrief_IOM_bldg_safer_systems.pdf

[TachyBrady]

Health IT should:

"• enhance workflow, perhaps by automating mundane tasks or streamlining work, without increasing physical or cognitive workloads"

I don't think this is happening at my facility!! They are always adding more and more computer documentation screens and it bogs down the work flow.

Is there anyway to visualize and compare health IT products? Surely there is a better way to document.

[Mijourney]

Patient safety is a part of quality, in my opinion. The IOM brings up great suggestions for solutions to the problem of hazards created as a result of the use of health IT. I also wonder if individual quality assurance or quality improvement departments can house some of the tools for reviewing the impact of health IT on patient safety. Many of these departments have workers that understand aspects of patient care and can utilize their expertise in this area and other areas to drill down on how the system could be made safer for patients. QA would of course have to have some understanding of IT systems, but once that piece is taken care of, I do not see why this area could not provide oversight of health IT and patient safety issues in concert with the IT department.