Journal of the American Medical Association's
Lead Article & Editorial Examine Medical Errors from a Sociological Perspective . . . 3/18/05

Ross Koppel, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, was the lead author of JAMA's (Journal of the American Medical Association) lead article in the March 9, 2005, issue (vol. 293, pp. 1197-1203), which featured his research on the contribution of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems to electronic prescription errors. Funded by the Agency for Health Care Quality, Koppel et al.'s research examined the human factors and the software interface and role of computerized information technology in medical errors. JAMA also published an editorial about the research in the same issue (Robert L. Wears & Marc Berg, "Computer Technology and Clinical Work: Still Waiting for Godot," pp. 1261-1263).

Koppel's study has received wide-ranging national press coverage including the front page of the March 9 New York Times Business section, and on March 8 on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Reuters, Newsweek, Boston Globe (front page), Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, and in various other news media around the world.

For more information, see the American Medical Association (AMA) press release. The article's abstract and the extracts of the editorial can be found at jama.ama-assn.org/content/vol293/issue10/index.dtl. You can purchase the full text of the article, "Role of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems in Facilitating Medication Errors," at the same AMA website.