An analysis of electronic health record–related patient safety incidents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse electronic health record–related patient safety incidents in the patient safety incident reporting database in fully digital hospitals in Finland. We compare Finnish data to similar international data and discuss their content with regard to the literature. We analysed the types of electronic health record–related patient safety incidents that occurred at 23 hospitals during a 2-year period. A procedure of taxonomy mapping served to allow comparisons. This study represents a rare examination of patient safety risks in a fully digital environment. The proportion of electronic health record–related incidents was markedly higher in our study than in previous studies with similar data. Human–computer interaction problems were the most frequently reported. The results show the possibility of error arising from the complex interaction between clinicians and computers.