Unintended Consequences of EHR Systems: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Healthcare is at a different place than it once was, over the past few decades, there has been an accelerated revolution with information technology (IT) and how it is used. Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are a common healthcare IT deemed as a crucial step in advancing healthcare with both positive and negative impacts. Many unintended consequences stem from technical issues and/or sociotechnical issues – workflows, culture and interactions with the EHR system. The complexity of both the healthcare industry and EHR systems demonstrate the criticality to keep investigating and addressing issues with interaction of the two. This paper reports on the common factors leading to unintended consequences and medical errors, while exploring mitigation factors to address the associated risks.