Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is an electronic/computerized system that allows physicians to enter patient care orders directly into the oneChart/Cerner system from home, the office, or any computer in the hospital. The CPOE Physician Portal provides physicians the latest information on the CPOE implementation at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

Methodist North Hospital is busy preparing for the implementation of CPOE as part of oneChart, the second phase of the Cerner project. North Hospital will implement CPOE and oneChart in Q4 2007 or Q1 2008. CPOE will be rolled out to all hospitals systemwide in 2008 and 2009.

Research indicates that the implementation of CPOE can help reduce medication errors and improve patient care and outcomes:

• Electronic order entry eliminates the issue of illegible handwritten orders.
• Allergy and drug-drug interaction alerts help improve safety when medicating patients. A test of CPOE at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston showed a reduction in drug-related, preventable adverse events of 17 percent and serious medication errors of 55 percent.
• Online order entry reduces time from order entry to order action, making patient care more efficient.