2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-Computerized Prescription Systems Introdu

This is All Things Considered from NPR news. I am Elizabeth Broad .And I am Rabbit Seagol. Hospitals across the country have instituted computer programs in an effort to reduce mistakes in prescribing medication. Many large employers say they'll contract only with hospitals that have these programs. But a study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association finds the programs are actually causing new kinds of medical mistakes.NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports.

Thousands of prescriptions¹ are written in hospitals every day. Most of them by young doctors in training. Sociologist² Robert Copell and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine wanna to know more about what could be done to cut down on errors. The young doctors kept telling them that the CPOE system, the Computerized Physician Order Entry System itself was a cause of error and stress.

Copell:"And we kept on saying that's not possible.All the literature says that CPOE reduces error and stress. And they said you're out of your mind."

So Copell decided³ to examine the work habits of the residents, nurses, doctors and pharmacists at his hospital.After intense scrutiny⁴ ,he found many aspects of the new system counter-productive. For example, surgeons had to go to a different display screen and attach information to order a CT scan. In some cases, doctors had to order certain medications twice ,then all of a patient's medications could not be displayed on one screen. In some cases, it took a confusing 20 screens. These problems are a waste of time, says Copell, but others can be dangerous.

The canceling of one medication and the ordering of another are separate. For instance, let's say a patient is doing better and you want to reduce his dosage from 8 times a day to 4 times a day. While you put in the order for 4 times a day and then you are interrupted before you get a chance to cancel the 8 times a day, so the patient is now getting that medication 12 times a day.

In other cases, the medication was put in an area of the screen that people couldn't see and patients never got it. Often allergy⁵ information was displayed after physicians had ordered it. In all, Copell found 22 new types of medication error risks. This computer software is widely used by hospitals. Doctor Rubber Wheels is a patient safety expert. He says this study's findings don't surprise him.

Highly automated⁶ computer-controlled aircraft, when they were first introduced, one of the classic things that happened there is they reduced the pilots' workload⁷ during times that were already easy, and they increased it during times that were already hard, like takeoff and landing.

Wheels says it took a decade to refine the automated aircraft and it may take that long in health care too. In the mean time, he suggests smaller community hospitals hold off implementing⁸ computer systems until larger institutions with more resources do the footwork. The Veterans Administration, for example, has already made big strides in reducing medical mistakes. Patricia Neighmond, NPR news.

1 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

2 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

5 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

6 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

7 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

8 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句