ECRI identifies top 10 health tech hazards
Alarm hazards top The ECRI Institute's annual list of the top 10 health technology hazards--not a big surprise since several patient safety organizations already have identified alarms as a risk.
The 2014 list of health tech hazards names the safety topics that ECRI officials say warrant particular attention for the coming year.
The following are ECRI's 2014 top 10 health tech hazards:
1. Alarm hazards
2. Infusion pump medication errors
3. CT radiation exposure in pediatric patients
4. Data integrity failures in EHRs and other health IT systems
5. Occupational radiation hazards in hybrid ORs
6. Inadequate reprocessing of endoscopes and surgical instruments
7. Neglecting change management for networked devices and systems
8. Risks to pediatric patients from "adult" technologies
9. Robotic surgery complications due to insufficient training
10. Retained devices and unretrieved fragments
Clinical alarm hazards remain at the top of the list due to their prevalence, their potential to result in serious patient harm, and the increased attention they'll receive from the Joint Commission in the coming year, ECRI officials said in a statement.
In an April 2013 Sentinel Event Alert, the Joint Commission cited 98 alarm-related events over a three-year period, with 80 of those events resulting in death and 13 in permanent loss of function. The organization subsequently issued a National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 to compel healthcare providers to address alarm hazards. ECRI Institute has developed resources and tools to help providers meet the provisions of this new goal, and it offers an alarm management safety review consulting service.
A 16-page executive brief about the hazards is available here.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.