Poster Abstract: Automated Medical Algorithms: Issues for Medical Errors

The National Patient Safety Foundation has sponsored a report to describe the current research being pursued in the area of medical error reduction and to identify the gaps in this effort.1 A total of 23 gaps were identified—among them was a need for more research in the area of communication and information sharing. One of the areas that we see a need to explore is the wealth of published information in the form of medical algorithms. Centralizing and automating medical algorithms is one way to share information among a wide range of clinical care providers. Furthermore, automation of medical algorithms assists in the correct selection (reducing errors of planning) and application of that information (reducing errors of execution). The …