Effectiveness of a Hospital-Based Computerized Decision Support System on Clinician Recommendations and Patient Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
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Authors
Moja, Lorenzo
Polo Friz, Hernan
Capobussi, Matteo
Kwag, Koren
Banzi, Rita
Ruggiero, Francesca
González-Lorenzo, Marien
Mangia, Massimo
Nyberg, Peter
Kunnamo, Ilkka
Cimminiello, Claudio
Vighi, Giuseppe
Grimshaw, Jeremy M
Delgrossi, Giovanni
Bonovas, Stefanos
Publication Date
2019-12-02Journal Title
JAMA Netw Open
ISSN
2574-3805
Publisher
American Medical Association (AMA)
Volume
2
Issue
12
Pages
e1917094
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Physical Medium
Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Moja, L., Polo Friz, H., Capobussi, M., Kwag, K., Banzi, R., Ruggiero, F., González-Lorenzo, M., et al. (2019). Effectiveness of a Hospital-Based Computerized Decision Support System on Clinician Recommendations and Patient Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial.. JAMA Netw Open, 2 (12), e1917094. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.17094
Abstract
Importance: Sophisticated evidence-based information resources can filter medical evidence from the literature, integrate it into electronic health records, and generate recommendations tailored to individual patients. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a computerized clinical decision support system (CDSS) that preappraises evidence and provides health professionals with actionable, patient-specific recommendations at the point of care. Design, Setting, and Participants: Open-label, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial among internal medicine wards of a large Italian general hospital. All analyses in this randomized clinical trial followed the intent-to-treat principle. Between November 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016, patients were randomly assigned to the intervention group, in which CDSS-generated reminders were displayed to physicians, or to the control group, in which reminders were generated but not shown. Data were analyzed between February 1 and July 31, 2018. Interventions: Evidence-Based Medicine Electronic Decision Support (EBMEDS), a commercial CDSS covering a wide array of health conditions across specialties, was integrated into the hospital electronic health records to generate patient-specific recommendations. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the resolution rate, the rate at which medical problems identified and alerted by the CDSS were addressed by a change in practice. Secondary outcomes included the length of hospital stay and in-hospital all-cause mortality. Results: In this randomized clinical trial, 20 563 patients were admitted to the hospital. Of these, 6480 (31.5%) were admitted to the internal medicine wards (study population) and randomized (3242 to CDSS and 3238 to control). The mean (SD) age of patients was 70.5 (17.3) years, and 54.5% were men. In total, 28 394 reminders were generated throughout the course of the trial (median, 3 reminders per patient per hospital stay; interquartile range [IQR], 1-6). These messages led to a change in practice in approximately 4 of 100 patients. The resolution rate was 38.0% (95% CI, 37.2%-38.8%) in the intervention group and 33.7% (95% CI, 32.9%-34.4%) in the control group, corresponding to an odds ratio of 1.21 (95% CI, 1.11-1.32; P < .001). The length of hospital stay did not differ between the groups, with a median time of 8 days (IQR, 5-13 days) for the intervention group and a median time of 8 days (IQR, 5-14 days) for the control group (P = .36). In-hospital all-cause mortality also did not differ between groups (odds ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.77-1.17; P = .59). Alert fatigue did not differ between early and late study periods. Conclusions and Relevance: An international commercial CDSS intervention marginally influenced routine practice in a general hospital, although the change did not statistically significantly affect patient outcomes. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02577198.
Keywords
Humans, Length of Stay, Hospital Mortality, Evidence-Based Medicine, Decision Support Systems, Clinical, Hospital Information Systems, Aged, Middle Aged, Hospitals, General, Italy, Female, Male, Electronic Health Records, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Precision Medicine, Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.17094
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/310187
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