Sponsored in part by the JKTG Foundation, the Partnership for Health IT and Safety recently released the first in a series of evidence-based recommendations designed to improve health IT safety.  The widespread and often underreported practice of copy and past has the potential to cause adverse patient safety events and was chosen for the group’s first set of recommended practices.

The Partnership, established in 2013, includes healthcare providers, health information technology (IT) developers, academic researchers, patient safety organizations, liability insurers and professional societies.

The copy and past workgroup, chaired by National Patient Safety Foundation President and CEO Tejal Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, was comprised of 40 leaders from participating organizations.  Key recommendations are:

• Provide a mechanism to make copy and paste material easily identifiable.
• Ensure that the provenance of copy and paste material is readily available.
• Ensure adequate staff training and education regarding the appropriate and safe use of copy and paste.
• Ensure that copy and paste practices are regularly monitored, measured and assessed.

The toolkit is available to the public and was discussed at a March 2 HIMSS event in Las Vegas.