I WAS PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT COMPUTERIZING MEDICAL RECORDS

But the thrill is gone... :-)

This report from Bloomberg News has 3 sides:

THE GOOD: 

More than 17 million medication mistakes are now avoided in the U.S. each year because of hospitals’ use of computerized prescription-ordering systems, according to a study published in February in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

THE BAD:

Dangerous doses of drugs have been given because of confusing drop-down menus; patients have undergone unnecessary surgeries because their electronic records displayed incorrect information; and computer-network delays in sending medical images have resulted in serious injury or death, according to a study published in 2011 based on reports submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

THE UGLY:

Unlike U.S. medical-device makers, which must report all malfunctions, serious injuries and deaths involving their products to the FDA, software companies that make electronic medical records are under no such requirement.

As a result, little is known about the risks of their systems, since there is no central database of error reports and makers of electronic records often prohibit customers from discussing unsafe processes. That practice creates “unacceptable risks to safety,” according to a 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies