Nurse survey: Improve device-EHR interoperability for fewer errors

Coordinating the data collected by medical devices to EHRs is burdensome for nurses, said 74 percent of nurses surveyed by Harris Poll for the Gary and Mary West Health Institute.

Half of the 526 nurses surveyed in the U.S. said they have witnessed a medical error resulting from a lack of coordination among medical devices in a hospital setting. Sixty percent said they believe such errors could be significantly reduced if devices were connected and shared data with each other automatically.

The West Institute has previously estimated that a system of connected devices could save U.S. healthcare $30 billion a year through reduced redundant testing, manual data entry and transcription errors and a study from Patient Safety America has estimated that incomplete medical records cause harm to 400,000 patients annually. according to a release.

“Nurses are the front line of patient care and have an unrivaled ability to identify and address problems at the intersection of patients and technology,” said Joseph Smith, MD, West Health Institute’s chief medical and science officer in the release. “The survey helps show how much of a nurse’s time could be better spent in direct care of patients and families, and how errors could be potentially avoided if medical devices, which have been so successful at improving patient care, were able to take the next step and seamlessly share critical information around the patient’s bedside.”

Harris Poll conducted the weighted survey from January 7 to 16 and included nurses credentialed at RN or higher, with an education of BSN or higher, all working in non-school settings.

Two out of three nurses in the survey said manually transcribing data is very likely to take time away from patients who need attention. Plus, one respondent saw instances where numbers were incorrectly transcribed or put in the wrong column when typed manually.

 

Beth Walsh,

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.

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