In 2009 the federal government initiated the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in efforts to improve timely and quality health care. This new initiative promised to provide great incentives to health care providers who took advantage of the program by implementing electronic medical records (EMRs) within their facilities, clinics, and practices. Coupled with tight deadlines and the incentive of reimbursement, the health care world has been witness to an influx of EMRs being developed by vendors and implemented at health care facilities. The rate at which these EMRs have been implemented has been astounding. So fast, the health care world has had little time to truly grasp the full potential of the EMR and see the full benefits. Additionally, clinicians have had little time to sit back and evaluate the effectiveness of the EMR. Many have questioned if the EMR has been a benefit or a hindrance to the health care world. Finally clinicians, researchers and administrative staff are questioning if the EMRs have in fact increased patient medication errors. This question has prompted this research proposal to discover from literature review and studies how EMRs have positively or negatively affected patient medication errors
