Computerized physician order entry of diagnostic tests in an intensive care unit is associated with improved timeliness of service

Objective: To measure the effect of computerized physician order entry on timeliness of urgent laboratory and imaging tests. Design: Before-after. Setting: Eleven-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit in a tertiary teaching hospital. Patients: All patients who had "stat" laboratory or imaging tests ordered during each of two 1-month periods 10 months before and 2 months after introducing computerized physician order entry. Interventions: Introduction of computerized physician order entry. Measurements and Main Results: After computerized physician order entry was introduced, median time from ordering to obtaining laboratory specimens decreased from 77 to 21.5 mins, median time from ordering to laboratory result being reported decreased from 148 to 74 mins, and median time from ordering to imaging completed decreased from 96.5 to 29.5 mins. Conclusions: Introduction of computerized physician order entry for ordering "stat" tests in an intensive care unit is associated with improved timeliness of these tests.