While most observers are highly positive about the benefits of converting paper patient files to electronic medical records, hospital negligence in Pennsylvania or other U.S. medical facilities still comes with risk. Recently, many hospitals around the country suffered a serious five hour computer outage in July.
The supplier of these electronic patient records stated that "human error" triggered the dangerous down time. Used for updating patient notes, condition, current medication, doctor communication and test orders/results, dependence on these computer systems is becoming more widespread. Should these systems crash for some period, accurate diagnoses and, possibly, patient lives may be at stake.
While the government, with $27 billion in stimulus funds, leads the charge to massively upgrade the conversion to digital medical records, the risks should not be minimized or forgotten. This recent prolonged computer downtime serves as a graphic reminder of those risks. The primary goal, giving doctors, hospital personnel and other medical providers immediate and thorough access to patient information to improve care, is obviously valuable.
Yet, critics maintain that, at this point, some of these computer systems are not user-oriented, difficult to operate and not well-designed. These opponents contend that this massive government "push" to convert paper files to electronic ones may lead to more, not less, medical mistakes.
The recent computer crash caused medical personnel to hurriedly write notes and orders with pencil and paper. Since no backup systems filled the gap, many medical providers had no access to critical patient information. While the goal of this process is to improve access to vital patient records, not paper elimination, most personnel using these electronic systems are not adding handwritten information to paper patient charts.
How do you feel about the conversion to digital records? Should the risks be addressed now? Should a higher standard be placed on providers of these electronic systems to prevent prolonged computer outages similar to this one?
Source: Los Angeles Times, "Patient data outage exposes risks of electronic medical records," Chad Terhune, August 3, 2012