• Kenneth G Jozefczyk, William Klugh Kennedy, Miranda Jackson Lin, Julie Achatz, Maresa Dimarco Glass, W Susie Eidam, and Michael J Melroy.
• Pharmacy Department, Memorial University Medical Center, Savannah, GA, USA.
• J Pharm Pract. 2013 Aug 1; 26 (4): 434-7.

PurposePredefined error opportunity categories were used as a surrogate for medication errors to assess the impact of computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) on the potential for error in the prescribing and order entry phases of the medication-use process.MethodsThis study was performed in a neonatal intensive care unit at a 535-bed tertiary care center. Pre- and post-CPOE implementation incidence of error opportunity was compared by evaluating 500 orders before and after implementation using 18 predefined criteria.ResultsA total of 14 913 opportunities for error (OE) existed in our sample of 1000 medication orders. The number of orders with zero OE improved from 42% (n = 209) to 98% (n = 480; P < .0001), in the pre- and postgroups, respectively. The odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was 0.058 (0.036-0.094) in favor of CPOE.ConclusionsThe implementation of CPOE was associated with a reduction in OEs in the prescribing phase or order entry phase of the medication-use process.

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