User comments on a clinical event monitor

Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center's health care providers have access to alerts and interpretations generated by an Arden Syntax-based clinical event monitor. They have the opportunity to send comments to the clinical information services staff. Over a period of 26 months, they sent 126 comments. The comments were analyzed using the critical incident technique, resulting in a hierarchy of categories that summarizes user concerns. The majority of comments (65) indicated that the messages were actually (8) or at least potentially useful (57). A minority (28) indicated that they were unhelpful (27) or actually harmful (1). Another group (27) made suggestions or asked questions. The comments have been very helpful for the maintenance of Medical Logic Modules (MLMs) and the clinical event monitor itself.