Question

I need some to answer these questions. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a form of an experiment that is used to establish the efficacy of new interventions. We don't generally conduct such RCTs when either introducing or modifying HIT systems. My question above relates to how much of a problem do you believe this to be and what do you believe we should do about it (if anything) when considering HIT evaluation?

Answer 1

I personally feel it is a problem if we are not having trials during introducing or modifying HIT systems. The reason for this being that HIT systems are mainly introduced to reduce manual intervention and the related manual errors in the medication administration process. Thereby, they are used in a healthcare organization in order to facilitate patient health care and safety. Every patient has different needs and hence processes and procedures and medicines are different for each patient. Therefore, it is very important to check whether the new software or modification is accommodating this agility, i.e. whether the system is flexible enough to manage the customization.