Modifiable templates facilitate customization of physician order entry

Physician order entry is a key factor in improving the quality of healthcare, while simultaneously reducing its cost. This paper describes an editor, a database, and a run-time system for creating and executing highly customized, user modifiable, order entry templates. The system allows non-programmers to create new order entry templates rapidly. Over the past 18 months, the templates have been used on over 2500 patients to enter over 40,000 separate orders.