Residents of Pennsylvania are injured everyday due to negligence on the part of medical professionals. Medical malpractice can take many forms including medication errors, hospital negligence, the failure to diagnose and surgical errors. Because virtually all would agree that mistakes due to negligence can be prevented, steps are regularly being taken by health care providers to try to reduce medical errors.

One of the methods being employed in the effort to reduce medical errors is the use of electronic health records. A recent study, published in the Journal of Nursing, indicates it is working, at least with respect to errors made by nurses. Authored by two women from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, the study more specifically determined that utilizing a basic electronic health records system led to fewer reports of medication errors, safety issues regarding patients and a low quality of care.

The study encompassed 16,000 nurses employed with 316 hospitals throughout four states.

Currently only an estimated 12 percent of hospitals throughout the United States utilize a basic electronic health records system. However, this number is expected to rise due to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Under this act, federal incentive payments have been made available to hospitals and healthcare providers that employ the use of electronic health records. The federal incentive payments are a minimum of $2 million.

It remains to be seen whether the more widespread use of electronic health records will reduce the number of medical malpractice claims. Do you think it will have a positive impact?

Source: United Press International, "Electronic health records improve nursing," Jan. 10, 2012