Information Systems-enabled Outreach Program for Adverse Drug Events
Abstract
One of the most common health care interventions in any healthcare setting is a medication prescription. Unfortunately, up to 25% of outpatient prescriptions are associated with adverse drug events (ADEs). ADEs decrease patient health directly and can lead to non-adherence, which in turn has negative consequences.
The investigators recently conducted a pilot project in which the feasibility and potential utility of an information technology enabled outreach program for monitoring patients receiving an outpatient prescription was tested. This intervention involved the use of an interactive voice response system programmed to automatically call ambulatory care patients following a prescription. If the system identified a potential medication problem, a pharmacist was notified who contacted the patient, modified the therapy accordingly, and informed a physician when necessary.
The pilot project included 568 patients with diverse illnesses in two Canadian cities. High levels of patient and provider acceptability of the system were determined from 21 day interviews. The program identified 56 of 125 (45%) ADEs and 10 of 26 (30%) of primary non-compliance events. Very few episodes of ameliorable ADEs were observed.
The investigators feel these results justify a randomized control trial to assess the effectiveness of the intervention for improving patient centered outcomes. Ambulatory care patients receiving incident prescriptions for one of four conditions (hypertension, diabetes…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 614 participants or records.
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