Abstract
BACKGROUND: Drug allergy represent an important subset of adverse drug reactions that is worthy of attention because many of these reactions are potentially preventable with use of computerised decision support systems. This is however dependent on the accurate and comprehensive recording of these reactions in the electronic health record. The objectives of this study were to understand approaches to the recording of drug allergies in electronic health record systems.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We undertook a case study comprising of 21 in-depth interviews with a purposefully selected group of primary and secondary care clinicians, academics, and members of the informatics and drug regulatory communities, observations in four General Practices and an expert group discussion with 15 participants from the Allergy and Respiratory Expert Resource Group of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
RESULTS: There was widespread acceptance among healthcare professionals of the need for accurate recording of drug allergies and adverse drug reactions. Most drug reactions were however likely to go unreported to and/or unrecognised by healthcare professionals and, even when recognised and reported, not all reactions were accurately recorded. The process of recording these reactions was not standardised.
CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in the way drug allergies are recorded in electronic health records. This limits the potential of computerised decision support systems to help alert clinicians to the risk of further reactions. Inaccurate recording of information may in some instances introduce new problems as patients are denied treatments that they are erroneously believed to be allergic to.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e93047 |
| Journal | PloS ONE |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Apr 2014 |
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Approaches to recording drug allergies in electronic health records : qualitative study. / Fernando, Bernard; Morrison, Zoe; Kalra, Dipak; Cresswell, Kathrin; Sheikh, Aziz.
In: PloS ONE, Vol. 9, No. 4, e93047, 16.04.2014.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Approaches to recording drug allergies in electronic health records
T2 - qualitative study
AU - Fernando, Bernard
AU - Morrison, Zoe
AU - Kalra, Dipak
AU - Cresswell, Kathrin
AU - Sheikh, Aziz
N1 - Funding: This report is independent research commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) Connecting for Health Evaluation Programme. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NHS Connecting for Health Evaluation Programme, or the Department of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2014/4/16
Y1 - 2014/4/16
N2 - BACKGROUND: Drug allergy represent an important subset of adverse drug reactions that is worthy of attention because many of these reactions are potentially preventable with use of computerised decision support systems. This is however dependent on the accurate and comprehensive recording of these reactions in the electronic health record. The objectives of this study were to understand approaches to the recording of drug allergies in electronic health record systems.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We undertook a case study comprising of 21 in-depth interviews with a purposefully selected group of primary and secondary care clinicians, academics, and members of the informatics and drug regulatory communities, observations in four General Practices and an expert group discussion with 15 participants from the Allergy and Respiratory Expert Resource Group of the Royal College of General Practitioners.RESULTS: There was widespread acceptance among healthcare professionals of the need for accurate recording of drug allergies and adverse drug reactions. Most drug reactions were however likely to go unreported to and/or unrecognised by healthcare professionals and, even when recognised and reported, not all reactions were accurately recorded. The process of recording these reactions was not standardised.CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in the way drug allergies are recorded in electronic health records. This limits the potential of computerised decision support systems to help alert clinicians to the risk of further reactions. Inaccurate recording of information may in some instances introduce new problems as patients are denied treatments that they are erroneously believed to be allergic to.
AB - BACKGROUND: Drug allergy represent an important subset of adverse drug reactions that is worthy of attention because many of these reactions are potentially preventable with use of computerised decision support systems. This is however dependent on the accurate and comprehensive recording of these reactions in the electronic health record. The objectives of this study were to understand approaches to the recording of drug allergies in electronic health record systems.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We undertook a case study comprising of 21 in-depth interviews with a purposefully selected group of primary and secondary care clinicians, academics, and members of the informatics and drug regulatory communities, observations in four General Practices and an expert group discussion with 15 participants from the Allergy and Respiratory Expert Resource Group of the Royal College of General Practitioners.RESULTS: There was widespread acceptance among healthcare professionals of the need for accurate recording of drug allergies and adverse drug reactions. Most drug reactions were however likely to go unreported to and/or unrecognised by healthcare professionals and, even when recognised and reported, not all reactions were accurately recorded. The process of recording these reactions was not standardised.CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in the way drug allergies are recorded in electronic health records. This limits the potential of computerised decision support systems to help alert clinicians to the risk of further reactions. Inaccurate recording of information may in some instances introduce new problems as patients are denied treatments that they are erroneously believed to be allergic to.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0093047
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0093047
M3 - Article
VL - 9
JO - PloS ONE
JF - PloS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 4
M1 - e93047
ER -