Keywords

electronic medical record, medication error, patient safety, quality management

Authors

1. Silver, Michael R. MD
2. Lusk, Ruth RN, MA

Abstract

Patient safety remains a major issue for health care delivery systems and the American public. One community hospital has kept pace with this issue using traditional quality management approaches. A national multihospital health care system has leveraged its electronic medical record system to facilitate data collection and analysis of events impacting patient safety. The article describes both approaches for addressing the complex issues surrounding patient safety.