Chances and risks of clinical information systems.

Electronic medical records and ordering systems in hospitals and medical offices have immense potential to improve patient safety. Medication safety in particular can benefit from electronic prescribing. Electronic systems can have barriers implemented that, for example, detect incorrect, dangerous prescriptions and alert prescribers to adjust their prescriptions. So-called «order sets» can cleverly group together interventions or medications to be ordered together, so that the risk of forgetting individual items is reduced.