Medical errors in the context of information systems: A systematic literature review

Medical errors pose a significant public health challenge, with recent studies indicating that they are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., following heart disease and cancer (Makary & Daniel, 2016). While extensive investigations have examined the causes of such errors from a clinical perspective, this study conducts a systematic literature review focusing specifically on errors associated with computer-based information systems (IS) in healthcare settings. The review aims to identify the types of Electronic Health Record (EHR)-related errors in order to inform strategies aimed at eliminating these issues, reducing healthcare costs, and improving the quality of patient care. Preliminary findings, summarized in Table 1, are based on a review of literature from two databases—Web of Science and PubMed—spanning the past five years up to April 29, 2025. The review utilized three keyword combinations. Articles were categorized as positive if they reported that IS reduced medical errors, negative if IS contributed to errors, and both for studies that reported mixed outcomes. Notably, early results indicate a greater number of studies highlight the positive impact of IS on reducing medical errors than those identifying negative effects. Future steps include expanding the review to encompass additional databases such as ScienceDirect and SpringerLink and employing a broader range of keyword combinations. A detailed meta-analysis will also be conducted to identify the common types of IS-related errors and to explore effective mitigation strategies.