Information Systems Can Prevent Errors and Improve Quality

> When you have a doctor, a patient, and a drug, there is much room for misunderstanding. > > Eugene A. Stead, Jr, MD1 The need to improve the quality of health care, prevent errors, translate good science into practice, and make patients and consumers partners in care has never been more pressing. Studies suggest that, at any given time, about a quarter of outpatients are subject to medication errors2 and, on average, a patient in an intensive care unit has to endure one health care error per day.3 Medical mistakes are blamed for as many as 98,000 lost lives annually,4 representing the eighth leading cause of death—exceeding diabetes (64,751), motor vehicle accidents (43,458), and breast cancer (42,297).5 The landmark quality classification of Donabedian6 offers measures not only for improvement in care but …