Are we safe from our information systems?
Although at present there are no agreed safety standards for information
systems in healthcare, work is being done to develop them. Dr Barry
Barber reports on progress to date.
abstract
The dependence of clinicians on electronic information systems is both
increasing and widening. This also increases the probabilities of things
going wrong. Dangers arise when users misunderstand information or don’t
notice its presence; when information is incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupted; and when confidentiality and security breaches occur. When
things go wrong, patients may be given inappropriate care, which may
result in unnecessary disability or pain, prolonged stays in hospital,
premature death or, indeed, multiple deaths arising from systematic
errors. An international standard is in the making to help ensure that
additional hazards are not introduced into the patient-care processes by
computerised information systems.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2004; 21(9): 22–3.
