Warning about software errors: Danger in medication dosage
The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) in Berlin has issued an urgent warning to all medical practices. There are technical problems with the software that doctors use to manage their patients. These errors can lead to medication information being stored incorrectly in the system.
The problem occurs primarily when reading the so-called "nationwide uniform medication plan" (BMP). When doctors transfer this plan into their computer system, transmission errors can occur. This means that the dosage of a medication – the amount a patient is supposed to take – is displayed incorrectly on the computer.
Such errors pose a major risk to patient safety. If a patient takes the wrong amount of a medication, it can have serious health consequences. Especially for people who have to take many different medications at the same time, correct documentation is vital.
The KBV therefore advises medical practices to exercise particular caution. Medical staff should always manually compare the data in the computer with the original medication plan. At the moment, one should not rely blindly on the automatic transfer by the software.
Experts are now calling on the manufacturers of the practice software to fix these technical problems as quickly as possible. Until then, the attentiveness of medical professionals remains the most important protection for patients to avoid dangerous treatment errors.