Meridian Health

Meridian Health of New Jersey, a nursing Magnet-designated health system, provides health services and programs through 70 locations throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties, including four hospitals, 7,500 employees and more than 1,400 physicians.

Meridian’s use of CPOE has helped physicians adhere to evidence-based treatment guidelines and reduced medication errors by alerting them to potential adverse events at the time an order is placed. The health system has made significant strides by developing guidelines for acute myocardial infarction into their CPOE. The system prompts physicians to administer aspirin and beta-blockers at the time of admission to patients who present suspected AMI. Following the success of AMI-interactive protocol, the hospital has added 17 additional interactive clinical-decision support protocols across 6 areas of care. Today there are more than 25.

Results:

• Compliance rates increased by 10% within 2 months and have remained at 100% compliance since its inception in 2005.
• Meridian was awarded the John M. Eisenberg Award for patient safety and quality in 2005 by the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum in recognition for its work.

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Published: January 26, 2009