Computer order entry systems in the emergency department significantly reduce the time to medication delivery for high acuity patients.

Background: Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems are designed to increase safety and improve quality of care; however, their impact on efficiency in the ED has not yet been validated. This study examined the impact of CPOE on process times for medication delivery, laboratory utilization and diagnostic imaging in the early, late and control phases of a regional ED-CPOE implementation.

Setting: Three tertiary care hospitals serving a population in excess of 1 million inhabitants that initiated the same CPOE system during the same 3-week time window.