Digital health and patient safety: Technology is not a magic wand

Abstract

The use of novel health information technology provides avenues for potentially significant patient benefit. However, it is also timely to take a step back and to consider whether the use of these technologies is safe – or more precisely what the current evidence for their safety is, and what kinds of evidence we should be looking for in order to create a convincing argument for patient safety. This special issue on patient safety includes eight papers that demonstrate an increasing focus on qualitative approaches and a growing recognition that the sociotechnical lens of examining health information technology–associated change is important. We encourage a balanced approach to technology adoption that embraces innovation, but nonetheless insists upon suitable concerns for safety and evaluation of outcomes.