Summary
Advanced electronic alerts (eAlerts) and computerised physician order entry (CPOE)
increase adequate thromboprophylaxis orders among hospitalised medical patients. It
remains unclear whether eAlerts maintain their efficacy over time, after withdrawal
of continuing medical education (CME) on eAlerts and on thromboprophylaxis indications
from the study staff. We analysed 5,317 hospital cases from the University Hospital
Zurich during 2006–2009: 1,854 cases from a medical ward with eAlerts (intervention
group) and 3,463 cases from a surgical ward without eAlerts (control group). In the
intervention group, an eAlert with hospital-specific venous thromboembolism (VTE)
prevention guidelines was issued in the electronic patient chart 6 hours after admission
if no pharmacological or mechanical thromboprophylaxis had been ordered. Data were
analysed for three phases: pre-implementation (phase 1), eAlert implementation with
CME (phase 2), and post-implementation without CME (phase 3). The rates of thromboprophylaxis
in the intervention group were 43.4% in phase 1 and 66.7% in phase 2 (p<0.001), and
increased further to 73.6% in phase 3 (p=0.011). Early thromboprophylaxis orders within
12 hours after admission were more often placed in phase 2 and 3 as compared to phase
1 (67.1% vs. 52.1%, p<0.001). In the surgical control group, the thromboprophylaxis
rates in the three phases were 88.6%, 90.7%, 90.6% (p=0.16). Advanced eAlerts may
provide sustained efficacy over time, with stable rates of thromboprophylaxis orders
among hospitalised medical patients.
Keywords
Clinical decision support systems - computerised medical records systems - venous
thromboembolism/prevention & control - software - reminder systems