scholarly journals Improving Blood Transfusion Practices in a Community Hospital Setting: Our Experience with Real-Time Clinical Decision Support

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sardar ◽  
Muhammad Azharuddin ◽  
Ananta Subedi ◽  
Prateek Ghatage ◽  
Doantarang Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Community Hospital ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Blood Utilization ◽  
The Impact

There is good evidence that 50% or more of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are unnecessary. To curtail inappropriate RBC transfusions at our hospital, real-time clinical decision support was implemented in our electronic medical record (EMR) that alerts clinicians to the patient’s most recent pretransfusion hemoglobin value upon order entry and provides Best Practice Advisory. This is a soft pop-up alert which is activated when the hemoglobin exceeds 7 g/dL. The ordering clinician can either honor (by cancelling the order) or override the alert. We studied the impact of the alert on blood utilization during a 3-month period (November 2016 to January 2017). For patients who were transfused despite the alert, a retrospective review of the medical chart was performed to determine whether or not the transfusion was clinically indicated. During the study period, 178 of the 895 RBC transfusion orders (20%) triggered the alert. After excluding duplicates, 144 orders were included in our analysis. Most of these orders (124/144, 86%) were carried out despite the alert. According to our chart review, 48% of the alert transfusions could be considered inappropriate, with hemodynamically stable, asymptomatic anemia being the leading indication. Of clinical services, orthopedic surgery had the highest rate of overriding the alert with no clinical justification (70%). The number of RBC transfusions dropped from 313.5 units per month (preintervention period) to 293.2 units per month (postintervention period)—a 6.5% decrease. Real-time clinical decision support may reduce the number of inappropriate RBC transfusions in a community hospital setting, though in our study, the decrease in blood utilization (6.5%) did not reach statistical significance.

Improved blood utilization using real-time clinical decision support

Transfusion ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1358-1365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence T. Goodnough ◽  
Lisa Shieh ◽  
Eric Hadhazy ◽  
Nathalie Cheng ◽  
Paul Khari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Blood Utilization

Stakeholder Perspectives on an Inpatient Hypoglycemia Informatics Alert: A Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nestoras Mathioudakis ◽  
Moeen Aboabdo ◽  
Mohammed Abusamaan ◽  
Christina Yuan ◽  
LaPricia Lewis Boyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
Group Sessions

BACKGROUND Iatrogenic hypoglycemia is a common occurrence among hospitalized patients and is associated with poor clinical outcomes and increased mortality. Clinical decision support systems could be utilized to reduce the incidence of this potentially avoidable adverse event. OBJECTIVE To determine the desired features and functionality of a real-time informatics alert to prevent iatrogenic hypoglycemia in the hospital setting. METHODS Using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Five Rights of Effective Clinical Decision Support Framework, we conducted a mixed methods study using an electronic survey and focus group sessions of hospital-based providers. The goal was to elicit stakeholder input to inform future development of a real-time informatics alert to target iatrogenic hypoglycemia. In addition to perceptions about the importance of the problem and existing barriers, we sought input regarding the content, format, channel, timing, and recipient for the alert (i.e. the “Five Rights”). Thematic analysis of focus group sessions was conducted using deductive and inductive approaches. RESULTS A 21-item electronic survey was completed by 102 inpatient-based providers, followed by two focus group sessions (6 providers per session). Respondents universally agreed/strongly agreed that inpatient iatrogenic hypoglycemia is an important problem that could be addressed with an informatics alert. Stakeholders expressed preference for an alert that is non-intrusive, accurate, communicated in near real-time to the ordering provider and provides actionable treatment recommendations. Several electronic medical record tools, including alert indicators in the patient header, glucose management report, and laboratory results section were deemed acceptable formats for consideration. Concerns regarding alert fatigue were prevalent among both survey respondents and focus group participants. CONCLUSIONS The design preferences we identified from this study will provide the framework needed for an informatics team to develop a prototype alert for pilot testing and evaluation. This alert will help meet the needs of hospital-based clinicians caring for patients with diabetes who are at high risk of treatment-related hypoglycemia.

scholarly journals Transfusion Medicine Informatics: Analysis of User Burden from Clinical Decision Support Alerts in Promoting Patient Blood Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 154 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S123-S124
Author(s):  
H C Tsang ◽  
P Mathias ◽  
N Hoffman ◽  
M B Pagano
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Blood Product ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Blood Products ◽  
Blood Management ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Blood Utilization ◽  
Transfusion Ratio ◽  
Major Project

Abstract Introduction/Objective To increase efficiency of blood product ordering and delivery processes and improve appropriateness of orders, a major project to implement clinical decision support (CDS) alerts in the electronic medical record (EMR) was undertaken. A design team was assembled including hospital and laboratory medicine information technology and clinical informatics, transfusion services, nursing and clinical services from medical and surgical specialties. Methods Consensus-derived thresholds in hemoglobin/hematocrit, platelet count, INR, and fibrinogen for red blood cell (RBC), platelet, plasma, and cryoprecipitate blood products CDS alerts were determined. Data from the EMR and laboratory information system were queried from the 12-month period before and after implementation and the data was analyzed. Results During the analysis period, 5813 RBC (avg. monthly = 484), 1040 platelet (avg. monthly = 87), 423 plasma (avg. monthly = 35), and 88 cryoprecipitate (avg. monthly = 7) alerts fired. The average time it took for a user to respond was 5.175 seconds. The total amount of time alerts displayed over 12 months was 5813 seconds (~97 minutes of user time) compared to 56503 blood products transfused. Of active CDS alerts, hemoglobin/RBC alerts fired most often with ~1:5 (31141 RBC units) alert to transfusion ratio and 4% of orders canceled (n=231) when viewing the alert, platelet alerts fired with ~1:15 (15385 platelet units) alert to transfusion ratio and 6% orders canceled (n=66), INR/plasma alerts fired with ~1:21 (8793 plasma units) alert to transfusion ratio and 10% orders canceled (n=41), cryoprecipitate alerts fired with ~1:13 (1184 cryoprecipitate units) alert to transfusion ratio and 10% orders canceled (n=9). Overall monthly blood utilization normalized to 1000 patient discharges did not appear to have statistically significant differences comparing pre- versus post-go-live, except a potentially significant increase in monthly plasma usage at one facility with p = 0.34, although possibly due to an outlier single month of heavy usage. Conclusion Clinical decision support alerts can guide provider ordering with minimal user burden. This resulted in increased safety and quality use of the ordering process, although overall blood utilization did not appear to change significantly.

scholarly journals A Narrative Review of Clinical Decision Support for Inpatient Clinical Pharmacists

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 199-207
Author(s):  
Liang Yan ◽  
Thomas Reese ◽  
Scott D. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Clinical Pharmacists ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective Increasingly, pharmacists provide team-based care that impacts patient care; however, the extent of recent clinical decision support (CDS), targeted to support the evolving roles of pharmacists, is unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the literature to understand the impact of clinical pharmacists using CDS. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central for randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized trials, and quasi-experimental studies which evaluated CDS tools that were developed for inpatient pharmacists as a target user. The primary outcome of our analysis was the impact of CDS on patient safety, quality use of medication, and quality of care. Outcomes were scored as positive, negative, or neutral. The secondary outcome was the proportion of CDS developed for tasks other than medication order verification. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Results Of 4,365 potentially relevant articles, 15 were included. Five studies were randomized controlled trials. All included studies were rated as good quality. Of the studies evaluating inpatient pharmacists using a CDS tool, four showed significantly improved quality use of medications, four showed significantly improved patient safety, and three showed significantly improved quality of care. Six studies (40%) supported expanded roles of clinical pharmacists. Conclusion These results suggest that CDS can support clinical inpatient pharmacists in preventing medication errors and optimizing pharmacotherapy. Moreover, an increasing number of CDS tools have been developed for pharmacists' roles outside of order verification, whereby further supporting and establishing pharmacists as leaders in safe and effective pharmacotherapy.

scholarly journals Clinical Decision Support for Ovarian Carcinoma Subtype Classification: A Pilot Observer Study With Pathology Trainees

2019 ◽  
Vol 144 (7) ◽  
pp. 869-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios A. Gavrielides ◽  
Meghan Miller ◽  
Ian S. Hagemann ◽  
Heba Abdelal ◽  
Zahra Alipour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Ovarian Carcinoma ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Subspecialty Training ◽  
Reference Standard ◽  
Observer Study ◽  
Subtype Classification ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Whole Slide Images

Context.— Clinical decision support (CDS) systems could assist less experienced pathologists with certain diagnostic tasks for which subspecialty training or extensive experience is typically needed. The effect of decision support on pathologist performance for such diagnostic tasks has not been examined. Objective.— To examine the impact of a CDS tool for the classification of ovarian carcinoma subtypes by pathology trainees in a pilot observer study using digital pathology. Design.— Histologic review on 90 whole slide images from 75 ovarian cancer patients was conducted by 6 pathology residents using: (1) unaided review of whole slide images, and (2) aided review, where in addition to whole slide images observers used a CDS tool that provided information about the presence of 8 histologic features important for subtype classification that were identified previously by an expert in gynecologic pathology. The reference standard of ovarian subtype consisted of majority consensus from a panel of 3 gynecologic pathology experts. Results.— Aided review improved pairwise concordance with the reference standard for 5 of 6 observers by 3.3% to 17.8% (for 2 observers, increase was statistically significant) and mean interobserver agreement by 9.2% (not statistically significant). Observers benefited the most when the CDS tool prompted them to look for missed histologic features that were definitive for a certain subtype. Observer performance varied widely across cases with unanimous and nonunanimous reference classification, supporting the need for balancing data sets in terms of case difficulty. Conclusions.— Findings showed the potential of CDS systems to close the knowledge gap between pathologists for complex diagnostic tasks.

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