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CPOE Improves Patient Safety at Top-Ranked Pediatric Hospital; Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle Uses IT to Maintain High Levels of Care

Posted on: Friday, 2 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, one of the nation's most progressive hospitals, continues to lead through innovation and modernization of the healthcare process by using computer physician order entry (CPOE) from Cerner Corp. to sustain the delivery of high-quality care in the safest environment.

After 16 months of thoughtful design and configuration, Children's converted the inpatient setting from paper orders to provider order entry in 14 hours with Cerner Millennium(R) solutions. A number of benefits were immediately realized and continue to be sustained after the second anniversary of the activation including:

-- A reduction in acute-care medication delivery time by 70 percent

-- A reduced order-entry time from physician order to pharmacy execution by more than 70 percent (from 51 to 14 minutes)

-- A decrease in incomplete orders by 30 percent

-- An elimination of handwriting and abbreviation errors on orders, which can often lead to life-threatening order and medication errors.

The use of real-time decision support has also led to the immediate notification to providers of potential life-threatening conditions that were a part of a major hospital patient safety initiative.

"Our CPOE implementation was part of a major patient safety initiative in our hospital," said Dr. Mark Del Beccaro, clinical director of information services and associate chief of emergency medicine, at Children's. "CPOE has helped our hospital maintain its high standard and fulfill The Leapfrog Group's quality imperative ensuring that we keep our children safe and provide them with the best care available."

In 2004, The Leapfrog Group, a national coalition of more than 150 organizations with the healthcare purchasing power of 34 million consumers, designated Children's as the first hospital in Seattle to fully meet its standards. The hospital has also been consistently ranked as one of the best children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report and Child magazines.

"Comprehensive, iterative studies have shown that CPOE, combined with thoughtfully and carefully implemented decision support, improves medication prescribing practices and diminishes potentially life-threatening adverse drug events," said Trace Devanny, Cerner president. "This is particularly true in pediatric critical-care environments, where precise, weight-based dosages of medications are paramount and orders are placed within shorter time frames."

By selecting Cerner, Children's chose a supplier with strength in numbers. Cerner has more than 4,500 Cerner Millennium solutions live at nearly 900 client facilities around the world, providing technology solutions for a diverse client base, from independent physicians to nationwide healthcare organizations.

As the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, Children's delivers superior patient care, advances new discoveries and treatments in pediatric research and serves as the primary pediatric teaching site for the University of Washington School of Medicine, which was also highly ranked in U.S. News & World Report.

Cerner Corp. is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 1,500 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner, Cerner Millennium, Cerner's logo. NASDAQ:CERN. www.cerner.com.

Source: Business Wire

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