Computerized physician order entry

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE), sometimes referred to as computerized provider order entry or computerized provider order management (CPOM), is a process of electronic entry of medical practitioner instructions for the treatment of patients (particularly hospitalized patients) under his or her care.

The entered orders are communicated over a computer network to the medical staff or to the departments (pharmacy, laboratory, or radiology) responsible for fulfilling the order. CPOE reduces the time it takes to distribute and complete orders, while increasing efficiency by reducing transcription errors including preventing duplicate order entry, while simplifying inventory management and billing.

CPOE is a form of patient management software.

Required data

In a graphical representation of an order sequence, specific data should be presented to CPOE system staff in cleartext, including:

identity of the patient

role of required member of staff

resources, materials and medication applied

procedures to be performed

operational sequence to be obeyed

feedback to be noted

case specific documentation to build

Some textual data can be reduced to simple graphics.

CPOE related terminology

CPOE systems use terminology familiar to medical and nursing staff, but there are different terms used to classify and concatenate orders. The following items are examples of additional terminology that a CPOE system programmer might need to know:

Filler

The application responding to, i.e., performing, a request for services (orders) or producing an observation. The filler can also originate requests for services (new orders), add additional services to existing orders, replace existing orders, put an order on hold, discontinue an order, release a held order, or cancel existing orders.

Order

A request for a service from one application to a second application. In some cases an application is allowed to place orders with itself.