Abstract

Medication errors remain a major challenge in the system of patient care in all healthcare institutions, all around the world, which may cause serious side effects to the patients. The impact of medication errors is not limited to the patient, but also increases healthcare costs and the cost of dealing with the after-effects of the error. Overtime, there have been several attempts to eliminate and reduce the rate of medication errors, one of which is the implementation of the computerized prescribing order entry (CPOE) system. There have been many studies which have proven the benefits of CPOE compared to manual prescribing (Teich et al, 2000). In addition, this system is known to improve patient care and to reduce healthcare cost (Pots et al, 2004). However, research has shown that the use of CPOE increases response time (Shu et al, 2001).