Information technology has become an essential component of any field. Its integration in the area of healthcare is seen as an approach to improve service delivery and quality of patient care. Computer Physician Order Entry is a current standard for healthcare organizations to use electronic health records. The system is developed with the primary purpose of reducing medical errors in inpatient patients that arise during transcription ( Niazkhani et al., 2009). Medication errors are a big problem in healthcare and are mostly due to ambiguous handwriting, and CPOE seeks to prevent them by ensuring there is a regular method of placing orders.
CPOE is defined as the process in which a physician places medical orders or treatment instructions electronically rather than using paper charts. This is crucial in reducing errors related to the ambiguity of handwriting or any other transcription of medical errors. The CPOE can help in improving the therapeutic workflow process by monitoring generation of related orders, preventing lost orders and eliminating any errors arising from ambiguous handwriting that is hard to read ( Reckmann et al., 2009) . This means providers will be able to receive orders immediately, read them clearly and receive requests from providers located anywhere. This paper looks to examine the benefits of implementing CPOE in a health facility and precisely how it can help in reducing the incidences of medication errors.
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Example of Computerized Provider Order Entry
CPOE allows physicians to enter orders electronically for several services including laboratory services, imaging procedures among other tests. An example of CPOE is when it is applied in a clinical laboratory which is involved in performing the right analysis for the right patient and at the right time. Clinical laboratories play a pivotal role in patient care and should deliver the proper test for the doctor ( Baron & Dighe, 2011). Successful implementation of the CPOE system in clinical laboratories affects numerous departments and practitioners
Clinicians have traditionally ordered laboratory tests using paper-based systems and requisitions. CPOE system in clinical laboratories influences the manner in which physicians place orders and how they are processed within the health facility. The system integrates and documents clinical information of a patient with the orders, which allows for automatic checking for errors in the form of duplication. The efficiency and accuracy of the system is that even minor errors that can be overruled by a physician are identified and corrected. As such, there is an improved way of placing orders between physicians and the laboratory, which contributes to improving patient and physician satisfaction ( Baron & Dighe, 2011) . At the same time, it reduces transcription errors, order duplications and eliminates standing order
This system can be applied in a clinical laboratory to offer many benefits including reduced test turnout time, improving test utilization as well as allowing for better adherence to practice guidelines. One of the main advantages of CPOE is that it reduces errors caused by handwriting, miscommunications or any transcribing errors ( Radley et al., 2013) . The system has built-in safety stops that prevent providers from making mistakes when entering orders and prevents their adverse impacts. At a minimum, the system ensures providers produce standardized, legible and complete orders. The system has built-in clinical decision support tools that automatically check for any potential problems. The system also improves efficiency by enabling providers to submit orders faster, thus saving time. Efficient clinical laboratory testing is crucial in providing high-quality patient care that is crucial for patient satisfaction ( Baron & Dighe, 2011) .
The process of laboratory testing involves several steps beginning with test selection and ordering, sample collection an transport, sample processing, and analysis before finishing with result reporting and interpretation. Any error that occurs during this testing process can undermine the entire results and affect the provision of efficient patient care. The CPOE system provides a key leverage point to improving the efficiency of laboratory test ordering, utilization, and patient care. Its implementation can help overcome the challenges to test selection ( Baron & Dighe, 2011) .
Personal experience
I took part in an internship experience at Southeast Georgia Health System that offers a variety of in-patient and out-patient health services. The experience of working in the organization was fascinating and provided a chance to experience the working of the CPOE system and a deeper insight into the field of healthcare. I was attached to the medical records department within the organization working with ROI specialists. My job scope entailed handling patient’s medical records and sending orders to health providers. The CPOE system was used for several functions including detecting any errors in the medical transcriptions such as a possibility of allergies that may affect the patient. The system then alerts the pharmacy to change the mistake ( Radley et al., 2013) . Additionally, the system could raise an alarm in the event where a health provider writes for medication dose that is outside of a normal safe range, Once the pharmacist gets these alerts, he contacts the doctor and ensures the error is fixed before the medication can cause any damage to the patient. The signals the CPOE provides thus helps in preventing medical errors and saving the lives of patients.
The organization had implemented a CPOE system with laboratory, pharmacy, and radiology. The implementation altered the physician practices and redesigned inpatient care processes involving nurses, pharmacists, and physicians ( Niazkhani et al., 2009) . The facility developed the order sets by improving on the paper order system that was previously used in placing and sending orders. The POEL system improved all documentation within the organization that is received by several departments and practitioners, thus helping to reduce the errors made with the misinterpretation of prescription orders.
A lesson learned from this experience was that the experience could improve the efficiency, quality, and patient safety. The benefits of implementing the system included a reduction in adverse drug events, improved efficiency of care delivery as well as standardization of care. The system allowed providers to spend more time treating patients instead of dealing with patient’s files. This allows them time to come up with a better treatment plan for increasing patient efficiency. It also demonstrated the most significant benefit showing cost savings and efficiency in production. It reduced medical errors and adverse drug events within them. Therefore, the system helped in eliminating medication transcription errors and consequently helped in reducing the length of hospital stay for patients ( Radley et al., 2013) .
However, the effective use of this system was hindered by the limited availability of information on the proper implementation of the system. The lack of knowledge has led to resistance among physicians who are not ready to use the system. For example, providers used CPOE infrequently while taking inpatient calls since the project did not have enough physicians. The system also appears to generate more work in providing a better patient overview to the clinicians ( Niazkhani et al., 2009) . Frequent training can be critical to the success of inpatient CPOE initiatives in a health facility.
Conclusion
The computerized physician order entry is a health informatics system that helps in managing orders for medications and other health care services. The CPOE system can be used to improve the safety and care standard of a facility. It reduces any medical errors or any misunderstanding in transcriptions thus ensuring safety. When applied in a health facility, the information system would increase patient satisfaction during care provision due to efficiency and quality of care provided. The system can also save time for physicians, allowing more time to deal with patients. Integrating CPOE in the technology platform of a hospital is done via the hospital information system
References
Baron, J. M., & Dighe, A. S. (2011). Computerized provider order entry in the clinical laboratory. Journal of pathology informatics , 2 .
Niazkhani, Z., Pirnejad, H., Berg, M., & Aarts, J. (2009). The impact of computerized provider order entry systems on inpatient clinical workflow: a literature review. Journal of the American medical informatics Association , 16 (4), 539-549.
Radley, D. C., Wasserman, M. R., Olsho, L. E., Shoemaker, S. J., Spranca, M. D., & Bradshaw, B. (2013). Reduction in medication errors in hospitals due to the adoption of computerized provider order entry systems. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association , 20 (3), 470-476.
Reckmann, M. H., Westbrook, J. I., Koh, Y., Lo, C., & Day, R. O. (2009). Does computerized provider order entry reduce prescribing errors for hospital inpatients? A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association , 16 (5), 613-623.
