ECRI To help health care providers minimize the risk of technology-related adverse events, ECRI Institute, Plymouth Meeting, Pa, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, announced the release of its Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list for 2013. The 24-page report is available as a free download with registration.

Now in its sixth year of publication, the annual Top 10 list is designed to raise awareness of the potential dangers associated with the use of medical devices and systems.

Five of the top 10 hazards explained in ECRI Institute’s report are:

  1. Alarm hazards
  2. Medication administration errors using infusion pumps
  3. Unnecessary radiation exposures and radiation burns during diagnostic radiology procedures
  4. Patient/data mismatches in EHRs and other health IT (HIT) systems
  5. Interoperability failures with medical devices and health IT systems