Use of Electronic Medical Records Hits Snag at VA Facilities
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The good news is that VA health centers around the country have begun implementing the use of electronic medical records for their patients. The bad news is that since a software upgrade in August of 2008, various glitches in the computerized records have put VA patients at risk. And the worse news, according to today’s AP News, is that the VA kept it all a secret, failing to even alert the very patients it had put at risk.
According to the AP, the errors occurred at 1/3 of the VA’s 153 medical centers. The glitches resulted in incorrect displays of patients’ health records, which led to the giving of incorrect doses of medications, and delays in treatment. Vital signs, lab results, and listings of current medications were displayed under names other than the actual patient’s, and stop orders for medications were not properly displayed, which resulted in some patients continuing to receive medication no longer needed.
President-elect Obama continues to push for full-scale implementation of electronic medical records. It is probably unrealistic to expect that making such a vast change in American healthcare will happen without problems. But it does not help the process when federal agencies like the VA apparently value public relations over the health and peace of mind of the veterans for whom they are charged with caring.
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throckmorton said:
The VA has had various EMRs for years starting with CHCS and CHCS2. They have been frought with problems, as have all the others that have been tried in the private sector.
Interestingly, since Obama has stated that he plans to make EMRs a mandate, there has been a huige drop in purchasing them for several reasons. First, nobody has any idea what system the Feds will mandate. Second, it takes the Federal government years to approve a standard form so their EMR will takes years, and lastly, it will be so full of “pet features” from every congressman that there is no way that you can get one today and have it interface with a mandated system in the future.
The VAs recent system is just the latest attempt at the governments EMR system. Just wait for those problems to occur on an even greater scale.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:50 pm