”We noticed that doctors are not very pleased with their electronic patient record programmes,” said Tinja Lääveri, chair of the e-health committee at the Finnish Medical Association (FMA), who helped conduct the research.
The research, published in the FMA’s in-house journal, turned up problems in measurements for blood coagulation in eastern Finland, and the electronic prescription system in Päijät-Häme.
Anne Kallio of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health says she believes that news of the problems is good, as it means the bugs can be fixed and the programme improved.
”It was potentially possible that dosages could have been mixed up, but that can’t happen now,” said Kallio.
The FMA’s Deputy Managing Director, Risto Ihalainen, urged politicians and officials not to rush to implement new tools before they were ready. He says he believes potential reputational benefits might tempt officials into hasty, IT-based solutions.
”The political drive is certainly strong,” Ihalainen told YLE. ”There is a need to proclaim that Finland is an early adopter. In any case, the result cannot be these kinds of irritating mistakes.”
The researchers argue that doctors need a greater degree of certainty about the software tools at their disposal. Without it, health care standards could be at risk.
”They need more options that would support their workflow, and of course it affects efficiency if the doctors can’t work as efficiently as they would like to,” suggested Lääveri. ”It might even have an effect on patient safety, as the doctor’s attention is on the [electronic record system] not on the patient.”
The National Audit Office has also criticised development of the electronic patient records database, saying that the mistakes could ”endanger patient safety.” The office alleges that the government has already sunk nearly half a billion euros into the project.
Anne Kallio denies that, saying state investment stands at 50 million euros, which will rise to a final sum of around 200 million.
The National Audit Office is preparing a new report on the system due for publication at the end of this year.
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Quelle/Source: YLE News, 12.10.2011
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