CPOE: a transformative change that directly impacts quality and safety for patients
Computerized provider order entry and orders management, or CPOE for short, allows care providers to enter medication orders and other instructions for their patients directly into the electronic health record (EHR). As a key component of the Cerner EHR system, CPOE and orders management is rolling out in phases across Island Health.
Currently, most Island Health medical staff must use paper forms to order medications, tests and imaging. The practice change from handwritten instructions to electronic ordering is expected to bring significant improvement to both health care provider experience and to the quality of patient care.
Video: NRGH staff share how CPOE has improved patient care
The danger of using handwritten orders
Is this 12 units of insulin glargine, or 120 units?
Read quickly, and it looks like 120 units, which would be a critical medication error. Handwritten orders are open to misinterpretation, and can cause errors at the ordering, interpreting and transcribing stages of creating an order.
Benefits of CPOE
- Reduces medical errors by eliminating handwritten orders.
- Places orders in the patient’s electronic health record, where they are immediately visible to nurses, pharmacists, technicians and other clinicians.
- Cuts down the time between ordering and administering a medication.
- Standardizes a high quality of care by making available pre-approved order sets for many common diagnoses.
- Streamlines workflow, which saves time and provides more opportunity for patient care.
- Allows orders to be placed remotely, including from a physician’s office or home computer.
Dr. Kevin McMeel, a specialist in emergency medicine, has been using CPOE at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital since 2016. Here is his experience with electronic ordering:
“When I order something on the computer, I can be in front of the patient and before my interaction is done, there’s someone knocking on the door saying, ‘I’m here to draw the blood work you requested,’ or ‘I’m here to take the patient for an x-ray.’ That’s the immediate benefit.
“The longer-term benefit is there’s actually a record so I know what the patient’s been given. I just have to look, and I can do it right in front of the patient. Right then I can see what they had on their last visit. I don’t have to send a clerk to go run to another part of the hospital to get me a stack of papers so I can see what’s going on. In the long run, it improves my job.”
- The Leapfrog Group
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Getting ready for CPOE
As we prepare for CPOE, medical, nursing and allied health staff can visit IHealth for Staff for details about proposed go-live schedules, training and other readiness activities.
