E-HEALTH experts have called for safety arrangements to minimise
harm caused by health IT initiatives like the Gillard government's
personally controlled e-health record system.
While e-health systems can foster safer care, an editorial published in
today's Medical Journal of Australia warns that problems in design or
operation can also lead to patient harm or death.
"The handful of local studies on e-health safety all point to clear
evidence of past harms and future risks," says Enrico Coiera, director
of the University of NSW's Centre for Health Informatics, along with
co-authors executive dean of Flinders University's Faculty of Health
Sciences Michael Kidd and National E-Health Transition Authority
clinical lead Mukesh Haikerwal.
"Given the systemic nature of national e-health, harm events will not be
confined to individuals, and may affect large groups of patients."
They say large-scale systems, like the PCEHR - due to launch on July 1
-pose particular challenges because they "carry an unknown hazard
profile".
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