Photos May Help Reduce Medical Errors

When is a picture worth a thousand words? When it’s used in an electronic medical record to reduce patient treatment errors, according to a new study.

A study conducted by Children’s Hospital Colorado suggests that including a patient’s photo in electronic medical records may help reduce medical errors that involve giving patients the wrong treatments, reports Reuters. After the hospital’s quality-improvement program found that orders placed in the wrong medical chart were the number-two reason why its young patients received the wrong care, an “order verification screen” with a picture of the patient was added to the computer system.

The result: the number of medical errors involving misplaced treatment orders decreased dramatically at the hospital over a year. While the study was small, the number of patients helped by such a system could add up if it were adopted by the nation’s hospitals, writes Reuters.

If you or your child has been injured by medical malpractice, contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation and to find out if a medical malpractice lawyer may be able to help you. Call us today at 800-581-6358.

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