Patient Safety Guidance for Electronic Health Record Downtime Recommendations of the Electronic Health Record Downtime Task Force

These evidence and consensus-based guidelines are based on actual incidents as cited by clinical providers that impacted clinical care and recommend practices to protect patient safety during electronic health record (EHR) downtime. Recommendations include having a downtime plan, running EHR downtime drills, training staff, and establishing a communication triage procedure. It considers different clinical areas for specific considerations, such as pharmacy, lab, the blood bank, and radiology. It covers safety event reporting and response, and strategies for system restoration.