Continuing to Run a Practice with Paper Records is Unnecessarily Dangerous

In a study conducted by Robyn Tamblyn et. al, it was found that “individual risk estimates displayed graphically and numerically are a more effective method of eliciting response to drug alerts and reducing the risk of medication-related injury” (p.8).  In short, this study found that doctors who have individually customized alerts for each patient are more capable of reducing each patient’s risk of being injured by their medications. This makes perfect sense; people are not generic, so why should their healthcare be?

However, managing medications effectively can be challenging, especially when it comes to psychotropic medications (p.1).  In the same study it was found that the risk of medication associated injury amongst the elderly currently taking psychotropic drugs “increased by 39%, 59%, and 50% with the use of benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and antipsychotics respectively” (p.1).  Almost 30% of the elderly taking these drugs are taking them in doses above what is recommended, and nearly 70% have more than one physician prescribing said medications. This significantly increases the patient’s risk of injury by cumulative toxicity going undetected.  

Yet with doctors continuing to utilize the old paper method of record keeping, overdosed clients are harder to detect as each doctor may not have the patient’s full medical record. Continuing this practice is putting countless patients at risk. Unlike an EHR system, pieces of paper in a folder are not capable of alerting a doctor that the medications they prescribe could be more detrimental than beneficial.

Protect your patients from medication induced injuries, and protect yourself from potential malpractice lawsuits, by utilizing an EHR system with customized alerts. If you are interested in reading the full results from the study, look no further:

http://jamia.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/12/amiajnl-2011-000609.full.pdf+html

Tamblyn, Robyn, Tewodros Eguale, David L. Buckeridge, et. al, The Effectiveness of a New Generation of Computerized Drug Alerts in Reducing the Risk of Injury from Drug Side Effects: A Cluster Randomized Trial.J Am Med Inform Assoc published online January 12, 2012. DOI: 10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000609