Fusing Technology with Reworked Processes

The Problem

Medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year, according to the Institute of Medicine. The extra medical costs of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone amount to approximately $3.5 billion a year, without accounting for lost wages, productivity or additional health care costs. When Jeanette Clough took the helm at Mount Auburn Hospital in 1998, she made medication safety an organizational priority.

The Solution

The hospital has put in place a number of systems—including a medication administration system, computerized physician order entry, smart pumps and bar coding—to reduce medication errors. With that technology, hospital officials painstakingly implement workflow and process changes before and after a system is put in place to maximize technology's ability to reduce human error and keep patients from harm.