Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of electronic health interventions to reduce medication errors

Medication errors, both potential and actual errors, can pose a significant safety concern in healthcare. Potential errors refer to mistakes detected and prevented (either manually or electronically), while actual errors include both harmless and harmful events, such as adverse drug events (ADEs). Electronic interventions, particularly computerized decision-support systems (CDS), aim to reduce medication errors and thus enhance patient safety. Our study conducts systematic reviews and a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of electronic interventions in decreasing medication errors compared to usual care. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) articles from EBSCO, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were systematically screened and selected. The analysis included 12 studies, finalized by nine after addressing heterogeneity. The results demonstrated that electronic interventions were associated with a 15% reduction in risk of medication errors (RR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.77-0.94). Subgroup analysis showed that CDS interventions were particularly effective in our study. The findings provide evidence for the potential benefit of integrating electronic systems to enhance medication safety. Further research is necessary to validate these outcomes across a range of settings.