Does CPOE support nurse-physician communication in the medication order process

From Clinfowiki
Revision as of 03:55, 3 April 2015 by Mho2 (Talk | contribs)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

The following is a review of the article, “Does CPOE support nurse-physician communication in the medication order process? A nursing perspective" [1].


Abstract

The authors of this article understand the major role that computerized physician order entry (CPOE) have in the future of health care. There are many journey articles that document the benefits of using CPOE to improve clinician performance. The two major healthcare providers who will be utilizing CPOE will be physicians and nurses. This article will focus on the effects of CPOE on nurse-physician communication as previous studies indicate reduced in-person communication can potentially negatively affect CPOE use [2] [3] and hinder future collaboration. [4]

Methods

146 nurses who worked in different inpatient units at a 112 bed hospital in Saudi Arabia were included in the study. A questionnaire was used to gather the data on the nurses’ opinions of CPOE in the medication order process. The first section of the questionnaire included the demographic data such as age, gender, position, and work experience. The second section of the questionnaire included the nurses’ views on the relation between the CPOE and the medication order such as efficiency of the medication order process, drug prescriptions written correctly, and clarity of written drug orders. The third section of the questionnaire included the nurses’ views on the nurse-physician communication such as follow up with physicians, frequency of physician contact, and inaccessibility of physicians. The nurses’ answers were based on a 5-point Likert scale that ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Results

The study was able to establish that nurses have a positive attitude towards CPOE. Over half of the nurses agreed with the benefits of CPOE such as clear written drug orders and efficient drug orders that were carried out in a timely manner. The study also showed that CPOE did not help with communication between physicians and nurses. The nurses felt that the implementation of CPOE caused them to increase their communication with physicians. CPOE did not improve physician and nurse cooperation. The nurses frequently needed to follow up with the physicians to clarify the orders that were written ambiguously.

Comments

This article serves as a good reminder that communication is paramount in providing quality patient care. CPOE has a lot of advantages in aiding physicians and nurses in writing and implementing the order. Understanding the order still requires communication skills that CPOE cannot provide. All health care providers need to realize that communication is still vital in the usage of CPOE.

References

  1. Saddik, B. & Al-Mansour, S. (2014). Does CPOE support nurse-physician communication in the medication order process? A nursing perspective. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 204, 149-155 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25087542
  2. Ash, J. S., Sittig, D. F., Poon, E. G., Guappone, K., Campbell, E., & Dykstra, R. H. (2007). The extent and importance of unintended consequences related to computerized provider order entry. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 14(4), 415-423.
  3. Beuscart-Zéphir, M. C., Pelayo, S., Anceaux, F., Meaux, J. J., Degroisse, M., & Degoulet, P. (2005). Impact of CPOE on doctor–nurse cooperation for the medication ordering and administration process. International journal of medical informatics, 74(7), 629-641.
  4. Pirnejad, H., Niazkhani, Z., van der Sijs, H., Berg, M., & Bal, R. (2008). Impact of a computerized physician order entry system on nurse–physician collaboration in the medication process. International journal of medical informatics, 77(11), 735-744.