Table 1.
Health information technology systems within a typical hospital practice. Phase IV post-marketing clinical trials are also used to track and report adverse drug events if the hospital is taking part in an established post-marketing study
| Acronym | Electronic system | Definition of electronic system | Occupation accessing data | Used for ADE tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EHR/EMR | Electronic health records/electronic medical records | Database containing standard medical and clinical data collected by HCP [30] | Accessed by billing department to determine diagnoses | Yes |
| CPOE | Computerized physician order entry system | Database containing medication orders as prescribed and directly entered by a licensed HCP [30] | Orders entered by physicians. Entries communicated to pharmacy, laboratory, or radiology | No |
| eMAR | Electronic medication administration record | Database used to track medication from order to administration [31] | Entered by nurses when administrating medicine to patients | No |
| BCMA | Barcode-enabled medication administration | Database that combines eMAR with bar coding (item-specific identification) [32] | Barcodes scanned by nurses; contains information on providers, patients, and drugs to facilitate entering of information into eMAR | No |
| BCMP | Barcode medication preparation technologies | Database that contains barcoding for inventory of items used in medicine preparation [33] | Used by pharmacy technicians when preparing medicines such as those for intravenous administration. Entries allow pharmacists to check technician’s work | No |
| IR | Electronic incident reporting system | Database that captures instances of patient harm [34] | Information entered by nurses, physician’s assistants, or pharmacists. Reviewed by Quality and Safety or Risk Management teams. Results in interventions deployed within the institution and reporting to the state | Yes |
| EBS | Electronic billing system | Database that captures ICD code as defined by the WHO. Data used for reimbursement | Information from EHRs is retrieved and converted to codes (ICD-9) that represent events or diagnoses such as heart attack. Coded information is forwarded to payers | Yes |
ADE adverse drug event, HCP healthcare provider, ICD-9 International Classification of diseases and related health problems, ninth revision, WHO World Health Organization