Table 2.
System-related errors by clinical error type and electronic prescribing system
| Manifestation | MedChart | Cerner | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical error type | n | Per 100 admissions | % Of errors | n | Per 100 admissions | % Of errors | OR† | p Value |
| Wrong timing | 89 | 19.14 | 27.1 | 46 | 28.05 | 27.9 | 0.97 | 0.9 |
| Wrong strength | 106 | 22.80 | 32.3 | 5 | 3.05 | 3.0 | 13.34 | 0.00001* |
| Wrong formulation | 31 | 6.67 | 9.5 | 11 | 6.71 | 6.7 | 1.46 | 0.5 |
| Prompt not ordered | 28 | 6.02 | 8.5 | 13 | 7.93 | 7.9 | 1.11 | 0.5 |
| Wrong rate/frequency | 25 | 5.38 | 7.6 | 8 | 4.88 | 4.8 | 1.60 | 0.4 |
| Wrong ancillary information | 17 | 3.66 | 5.2 | 11 | 6.71 | 6.7 | 0.81 | 0.7 |
| Wrong route | 1 | 0.22 | 0.3 | 27 | 16.46 | 16.4 | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Wrong drug | 10 | 2.15 | 3.0 | 14 | 8.54 | 8.5 | 0.39 | 0.2 |
| Wrong dose unit | 14 | 3.01 | 4.3 | 4 | 2.44 | 2.4 | 1.73 | 0.5 |
| Not indicated | 5 | 1.08 | 1.5 | 11 | 6.71 | 6.7 | 0.29 | 0.2 |
| Wrong dose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6.71 | 6.7 | 0.09 | 0.1 |
| Incomplete order | 1 | 0.22 | 0.3 | 4 | 2.44 | 2.4 | 0.34 | 0.4 |
| Duplicated order | 1 | 0.22 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.04 | 0.7 |
| Total | 328 | 70.54 | 100.0 | 165 | 100.61 | 100.0 | ||
*Significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons using Holm's procedure, p<0.004.
†OR of errors per 100 admissions, which was defined as the odds of occurrence of a specific error type among all system-related errors using MedChart in ratio to the odds of this error type occurrence using Cerner after adjusting for the patient admissions at the two sites.