profession
CPOE study halted for impeding care
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 11, 2010
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine stopped a study of a computerized physician order entry drug interaction alert after it led to clinically significant care delays, according to a Sept. 27 Archives of Internal Medicine article.
The study tested the effect of a "hard stop" computer alert that required physicians attempting to prescribe warfarin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole to call a pharmacist to get clearance for the order. TMP-sulfa, an antibiotic, can increase the anticoagulant effects of warfarin.
Doctors at two Philadelphia academic medical centers getting the hard-stop alert decided not to order warfarin 57% of the time, compared with 13.5% of the control group in which it was left to pharmacists to phone physicians about the drug interaction.
But the study was stopped because four patients who should have received both drugs did not, with delays sometimes lasting days. The experience shows the importance of carefully evaluating electronic prescribing alerts to ensure they do not pose unintended difficulties, the study's authors said (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/10/11/prbf1011.htm.