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News
Issue #2002 - 19
(May 2002)
(Updated May
22, 2002)
APPLICATIONS
& DEVELOPMENT
Clinician Use of PDA Drug
Reference Guide Reduces Human Error, Harvard study says
Clinician use of a PDA drug
reference guide can reduce the rate of preventable adverse drug
incidents, according to a study conducted by Brigham and Women’s
Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
The study involved 960 users of ePocrates Rx, an evidence-based
drug reference guide that offers dosing and safety information,
clinical publications and treatment guidelines.
Findings
- More than 80 percent of participants said they refer to
ePocrates Rx at least twice a day.
- Using the reference guide helped 50 percent of physicians
avoid one or more adverse drug incidents a week.
- Over 80 percent of clinicians, in both in- and out-patient
settings, rated practice efficiency as improved.
- Sixty percent of physicians reported that it took less than 10
seconds to find information using the handheld application,
versus one to five minutes using traditional sources such as the
Physicians’ Desk Reference.
The study findings are published in the current issue (May/June)
of the ‘Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.’
For more information: http://www.jamia.org
MobileInfo.com’s Comments & Advisory: Harvard study
is certainly interesting and encouraging for the effectiveness of
electronic prescriptions. We are impressed with the finding that
it took only 10 seconds to find information through handheld
application. It is probably because of better search capability on the
handheld as compared to the desktop. In fact, user input and output
limitations on handhelds would suggest otherwise. Nonetheless,
ePocrates application designers seem to have addressing this important
shortcoming on handheld.
Note: This news release may contain
forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in
developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology
architectures. All trademarks used in this summary are
the property of their respective owners.
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