CPOE is an Independent Risk Factor for Death?
Posted by GruntDoc on 7th December 2005
A nice entry from Dr. Andy: Uh oh 
Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is looked on as a panacea which will decrease medical error, improve efficiemcy, and improve patient safety. Only it looks like it has some major, unintended consequences, like increasing death according to an article titled “Unexpected Increased Mortality After Implementation of a Commercially Sold Computerized Physician Order Entry System: in this months Pediatrics.
…
Anyway, the findings were suprising and alarming:
Among 1942 children who were referred and admitted for specialized care during the study period, 75 died, accounting for an overall mortality rate of 3.86%. Univariate analysis revealed that mortality rate significantly increased from 2.80% (39 of 1394) before CPOE implementation to 6.57% (36 of 548) after CPOE implementation. Multivariate analysis revealed that CPOE remained independently associated with increased odds of mortality (odds ratio: 3.28; 95% confidence interval: 1.94–5.55) after adjustment for other mortality covariables.
Put in plain English, kids transported after implementation of CPOED has a more than 3 fold increased risk of death. Ouch.
(Emphasis mine). Ouch, indeed.
My response is in the comments of Dr. Andy’s post.
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