NCT05657002

A Study to the Impact of Accuracy Problem Lists in Electronic Health Records on Correctness and Speed of Clinical Decision-making Performed by Dutch Healthcare Providers

a Randomized Controlled Trial Study to Determine the Impact of Accuracy of Problem Lists in Electronic Health Records on Clinical Decision-making

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 160 (actual)
• Sponsor: Eva Klappe · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether patient records with complete, structured and up-to-date problem lists ('accurate problem lists'), result in better clinical decision-making, compared to patient records that convey the same information in a less structured way where the problem list has missing and/or duplicate diagnoses ('inaccurate problem lists'). The secondary objective is to determine whether the time required to make a correct decision is less for patient records with accurate problem lists compared to patient records with inaccurate problem lists.

Detailed description

A problem list in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is considered an essential feature in the collection of structured data. The problem list provides a centralized summary of each patient's medical problems and these problems or diagnoses are selected from the terminology underlying the problem list, such as SNOMED CT. If well maintained and structured, the problem list is a valuable tool for reviewing records of (unfamiliar) patients as it quickly shows the required information when needed. While studies have shown that the use of structured formats can serve as prompt for extra details, greater consistency of information and clinical decision-making there is little evidence whether a patient record with complete and structured problem lists results in more accurate and faster clinical decision making. In the study (ADAM's APPLE: Adequate Data registration And Monitoring, subproject: Accurate Presentation of Problem List Elements), the investigators will perform a crossover randomized controlled trial in which a laboratory experiment will be performed among individual healthcare professionals to assess the impact of patient records with accurate and inaccurate problem lists on clinical decision-making. The participants will be presented with two records of two different patients in a training environment of the software system EPIC, one of them with an accurate problem list and the other that conveys the complete information in the patient record (in free text notes) but with an inaccurate problem list with missing diagnoses and duplicate information. The participants do not know which of the two records includes the accurate problem list and which record includes the inaccurate problem list. Participants are asked to decide whether or not to prescribe two medications for those two patients. One medication is not allowed per patient because the patient is allergic to that medication, which is documented on the allergy list. For the first patient record, the other medication is not allowed, because of a contraindicated diagnosis and for the second patient record the other medication is not allowed, because of a side effect that has occurred using that medication in the medical history. Based on the correctness of the motivation for correct answers and the time to the right answers, the research question if accurate problem lists in patient records lead to better and faster decision-making is answered. Prior to this study, two healthcare professionals in the research team determined suitable use cases and questions for this study. These use cases were based on real-world unstructured versions of patient records. Two optimized accurate problem lists were also created for both patient records, which was defined according to the problem list policy at our institution (i.e. all current active problems and relevant medical history should be documented on the problem list).

Conditions

• Clinical Decision-Making
• Decision Making, Computer-assisted
• Medical Records, Problem-Oriented
• Quality of Health Care
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Data Accuracy
• Documentation / Standards
• Documentation / Statistics & Numerical Data
• Forms and Records Control / Standards
• Humans
• International Classification of Diseases / Standards

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	patient A with accurate problem list	A problem list that contains a diagnosis code that is contraindicated with a type of medication (Y). Also, all other relevant diagnoses and medical history for the patient are up-to-date on the problem list, which was defined according to the problem list policy at our institution (i.e. all current active problems and relevant medical history should be documented on the problem list). Additionally, the problem list is included in eight out of thirteen notes using so-called smart phrases that can automatically import a (part of a) problem list. One note includes the problem list with the diagnosis relevant for the question asked.
OTHER	patient B with inaccurate problem list	A problem list that does not contain the diagnosis code and corresponding details explaining medical history of this diagnosis caused by a type of medication (Y). Additionally, the problem list is included in three out of thirteen notes using so-called smart phrases that can automatically import a (part of a) problem list. The relevant diagnosis is not documented on the problem list and hence is not included in the imported problem list in the notes. The expert panel provided and anonymized two real-world representative examples of hematology patient records that included inaccurate problem lists and that had many free-text notes. An 'inaccurate problem list' is defined as a problem list where diagnoses are missing resulting in missed trigger medication or order-alerts, where diagnoses are 'active' although they should be closed or removed and/or where the problem list contained duplicated diagnoses.
OTHER	patient A with inaccurate problem list	A problem list that does not contain the diagnosis code that is contraindicated with the type of medication (Y). Additionally, the problem list is included in eight out of thirteen notes using so-called smart phrases that can automatically import a (part of a) problem list. The relevant diagnosis is not documented on the problem list and hence is not included in the imported problem list in the notes. The expert panel provided and anonymized two real-world representative examples of hematology patient records that included inaccurate problem lists and that had many free-text notes. An 'inaccurate problem list' is defined as a problem list where diagnoses are missing resulting in missed trigger medication or order-alerts, where diagnoses are 'active' although they should be closed or removed and/or where the problem list contained duplicated diagnoses.
OTHER	patient B with accurate problem list	A problem list that contains the diagnosis code and corresponding details explaining medical history of this diagnosis caused by a type of medication (Y). Also, all other relevant diagnoses and medical history for the patient are up-to-date on the problem list, which was defined according to the problem list policy at our institution (i.e. all current active problems and relevant medical history should be documented on the problem list). Additionally, the problem list is included in three out of thirteen notes using so-called smart phrases that can automatically import a (part of a) problem list. One note includes the problem list with the diagnosis and details relevant for the question asked.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-12-01
• Primary completion: 2022-12-21
• Completion: 2022-12-21
• First posted: 2022-12-20
• Last updated: 2022-12-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Netherlands