March 19, 2024

Dr. Edwards receives patient safety award

The Patient Advisory Council at Skiff Medical Center recently presented a patient safety award to Dr. Pat Edwards of Newton Clinic for going above and beyond to ensure his patients are safe when admitted at Skiff.

The award recognizes Dr. Edwards’ use of computerized provider order entry (CPOE) technology to increase the safety of his patients. CPOE at Skiff has encompassed a redesign of clinical processes that integrate technology to optimize physician ordering of medications, labs, diagnostic test, nursing orders, and more.

CPOE use increases patient safety by decreasing medication errors, decreasing translation of written order errors and providing a higher level of drug-to-drug and drug-to-allergy interaction checking. Avoiding medication errors and putting more information in the hands of providers and health-care workers is an overall goal of implementation of CPOE and health IT systems.

All physicians in the Emergency Department and inpatient departments at Skiff use CPOE. Dr. Zack Alexander, Dr. Leighton Frost and Dr. Steve Hill are physician champions for the initiative and are leading the cause for increased patient safety, efficiency, and overall improved quality of care using CPOE at Skiff.