Patient Safety

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)

CPOE or Computerized Physician Order Entry is the term used for any computer system that improves patient care by having physicians enter orders for medications and tests directly into a computer rather than giving them verbally or writing them for someone else to manage. Organizations implement CPOE to reduce errors due to illegible handwriting and transcription errors, as well as to provide enormous amounts of other information. For example, the physician can be automatically alerted if the patient's record shows an allergy to the prescribed medication or if the patient is already taking another medication that has a known interaction with the prescribed drug.

In 1993, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center was one of the first hospitals in the country to fully implement CPOE. We have some of the most experienced physicians and sophisticated clinical information systems available to insure that we continue to improve patient safety by allowing technology to provide information to help physicians make the best decisions.

Many hospitals in the country are now trying to implement CPOE. One factor in this initiative is The Leapfrog Group, which is an initiative driven by organizations that buy health care who are working to promote breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans. Saint Francis Hospital was one of the first hospitals in the state to submit data to this organization.