Technology-Induced Errors: Where Do They Come From and What Can We Do About Them?

The introduction of health information technology (HIT) has been associated with a decrease in medical error and this has been one of the main reasons for international efforts at increasing adoption of systems such as electronic health records, computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support systems. However, in recent years there is growing evidence that if not designed and tested properly such HIT can also lead to new categories of errors that were previously unseen in healthcare. These errors are known as technology-induced errors and they typically manifest themselves in the complex interaction between healthcare providers and HIT during real clinical use. In this paper the author explores the concept of technology-induced error in healthcare and discusses a range of strategies for detecting and mitigating such errors. Strategies include creating new organizations whose focus is to reduce technology-induced errors, develop and deploy new ways to detect such errors before systems are released, as well as approaches to reporting such errors after they occur. Other strategies include the development of regulation and policy to reduce such errors. It is argued that a multi-faceted approach to dealing with technology-induced error is needed.