Impact of a clinical decision support system for high-alert medications on the prevention of prescription errors.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a high-alert medication clinical decision support system called HARMLESS on point-of-order entry errors in a tertiary hospital.

Method: HARMLESS was designed to provide three kinds of interventions for five high-alert medications: clinical knowledge support, pop-ups for erroneous orders that block the order or provide a warning, and order recommendations. The impact of this program on prescription order was evaluated by comparing the orders in 6 month periods before and after implementing the program, by analyzing the intervention log data, and by checking for order pattern changes.