Survey: Those with EMRs more likely to report drug errors

We've heard, at least anecdotally, how EMRs make it so much easier for physicians to report on compliance with quality measures, so this news was probably inevitable: those with EMRs are more likely to report adverse drug events. That is the finding of an Ipsos survey of 300 primary-care physicians, commissioned by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

Half of all respondents--but 60 percent of those with "fully functional" EMRs--said an EMR would raise the chance of them submitting information about drug safety. And nearly 60 percent of the entire survey pool said that reporting of adverse events through an EMR would improve patient care.

"This survey furthers our understanding about how we can best use electronic health records systems to collect critical information about the safe and appropriate use of our products so that we can improve patient safety," Pfizer Chief Medical Officer Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall says in a company statement. The company also quotes a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who says that the results confirm findings of an earlier study Pfizer participated in at the hospital.

Detailed findings of the new survey were not immediately available.

For more:
- see the Pfizer press release
- read this Healthcare IT News story

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