Abstract
BackgroundVenous thromboembolism (VTE) causes morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients, and regulators and payors are encouraging the use of systems to prevent them. Here, we examine the effect of a computerized clinical decision support (CDS) intervention implemented across a multi-hospital academic health system on VTE prophylaxis and events.MethodsThe study included 223,062 inpatients admitted between April 2007 and May 2010, and used administrative and clinical data. The intervention was integrated into a commercial electronic health record (EHR) in an admission orderset used for all admissions. Three time periods were examined: baseline (period 1), and the time after implementation of the first CDS intervention (period 2) and a second iteration (period 3). Providers were prompted to accept or decline prophylaxis based on patient risk. Time series analyses examined the impact of the intervention on VTE prophylaxis during time periods two and three compared to baseline, and a simple pre-post design examined impact on VTE events and bleeds secondary to anticoagulation. VTE prophylaxis and events were also examined in a prespecified surgical subset of our population meeting the public reporting criteria defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicator (PSI).ResultsUnadjusted analyses suggested that “recommended”, “any”, and “pharmacologic” prophylaxis increased from baseline to the last study period (27.1% to 51.9%, 56.7% to 78.1%, and 42.0% to 54.4% respectively; p < 0.01 for all comparisons). Results were significant across all hospitals and the health system overall. Interrupted time series analyses suggested that our intervention increased the use of “recommended” and “any” prophylaxis by 7.9% and 9.6% respectively from baseline to time period 2 (p < 0.01 for both comparisons); and 6.6% and 9.6% respectively from baseline to the combined time periods 2 and 3 (p < 0.01 for both comparisons). There were no significant changes in “pharmacologic” prophylaxis in the adjusted model. The overall percent of patients with VTE increased from baseline to the last study period (2.0% to 2.2%; p = 0.03), but an analysis excluding patients with VTE “present on admission” (POA) demonstrated no difference in events (1.3% to 1.3%; p = 0.80). Overall bleeds did not significantly change. An analysis examining VTE prophylaxis and events in a surgical subset of patients defined by the AHRQ PSI demonstrated increased “recommended”, “any”, and “pharmacologic” prophylaxis from baseline to the last study period (32.3% to 60.0%, 62.8% to 85.7%, and 47.9% to 63.3% respectively; p < 0.01 for all comparisons) as well as reduced VTE events (2.2% to 1.7%; p < 0.01).ConclusionsThe CDS intervention was associated with an increase in “recommended” and “any” VTE prophylaxis across the multi-hospital academic health system. The intervention was also associated with increased VTE rates in the overall study population, but a subanalysis using only admissions with appropriate POA documentation suggested no change in VTE rates, and a prespecified analysis of a surgical subset of our sample as defined by the AHRQ PSI for public reporting purposes suggested reduced VTE. This intervention was created in a commonly used commercial EHR and is scalable across institutions with similar systems.
Highlights
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) causes morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients, and regulators and payors are encouraging the use of systems to prevent them
The clinical decision support (CDS) intervention was associated with an increase in “recommended” and “any” VTE prophylaxis across the multi-hospital academic health system
The intervention was associated with increased VTE rates in the overall study population, but a subanalysis using only admissions with appropriate present on admission” (POA) documentation suggested no change in VTE rates, and a prespecified analysis of a surgical subset of our sample as defined by the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) for public reporting purposes suggested reduced VTE
Summary
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) causes morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients, and regulators and payors are encouraging the use of systems to prevent them. Many of the CDS interventions studied were limited in that they either used noncommercial homegrown electronic health records (EHR) [7,8,9,10,11,12,13], pop-up alerts to remind providers when patients with VTE risk factors were not on prophylaxis [7,8,9,10,11,13,14,15,16], or targeted select populations [8,11,12] or individual hospitals [17] These limitations could impact the generalizability of the studies’ findings across multihospital systems, given the ubiquitous nature of pop-up alerts and the associated alert fatigue [18], challenges associated with translating the functionality of a homegrown EHR into a commercial one, and obstacles associated with implementing change across multiple institutions. We examine the effect on VTE prophylaxis and event rates of integrating a CDS intervention that does not involve pop-up alerts into a commonly used commercial EHR serving all inpatients in a multi-hospital academic health system
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.