Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) using Systems Engineering

As engineering in the 21st century becomes increasingly politically, socially and technically complex, systems engineering has become an effective tool in managing multidimensional problems involving people and the services they use. This project addresses how systems engineering principles are invoked throughout the development of the Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) process, a subset of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and presents factors necessary for the successful implementation of CPOE. Through the review of current literature and interviews with CPOE vendor implementers, this paper explains how systems engineering, which has historically been used in the development of systems, products, manufacturing and missions, is evolving into service-oriented industries such as healthcare to manage complex development of EMR systems. The goal of this paper is to show that CPOE implementation is a necessary change for healthcare providers, even though the task may seem daunting. This paper demonstrates that by studying the systems engineering strategies that have worked for CPOE implementation at other organizations, future organizations can also find success.