Title: Development of medication errors reporting system: an object-oriented approach

Authors: Mohammad I. Merhi; Sheel Patel; Kevin Nguyen

Addresses: Department of Decision Sciences, Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46634, USA ' Department of Decision Sciences, Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46634, USA ' Department of Decision Sciences, Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN 46634, USA

Abstract: Medication errors pose a serious threat in the healthcare industry. This paper aims at developing a medication error reporting system (MERS) that enables medical professionals to anonymously report medication errors by opening a case in the MERS database. The object-oriented approach was used to analyse and design the MERS system. The systems requirements are first gathered with the use of questionnaires and interviews with practitioners; then, analysed based on unified modelling language techniques such as use case, class, and sequence diagrams. Implementing a MERS into hospitals allows medical professionals to analyse error patterns by referencing archived cases in the database; thus enhancing clinical practices that prevent future errors.

Keywords: health errors; medical errors; health information technology; health systems; error reporting system.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEH.2017.085822

International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, 2017 Vol.9 No.4, pp.255 - 274

Received: 05 Jul 2016
Accepted: 06 Jul 2017
Published online: 14 Aug 2017 *

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