General practitioner views of an electronic high-risk medicine proforma to facilitate information transfer.

Rushworth, Gordon F.; Diack, Lesley; Rudd, Ian G.; Stewart, Derek

Abstract

Background The potential of warfarin related harm is increased if clinicians lack the full patient specific information to make informed decisions—an e-proforma has been developed to communicate this information on hospital discharge. Objective To determine the views of general practitioners (GPs) on a warfarin discharge e-proforma. Method A cross-sectional survey of all GPs (n=272) within the Raigmore Hospital catchment area of NHS Highland, Scotland. Results The response rate was 39.3% (107/272). 84 (78.5%) noticed recent changes to information supplied on discharge for warfarin patients. 64 (59.8%) respondents thought this would result in more informed prescribing with regards to dosing, while 65 (60.7%) felt this would improve safety. Accurate completion, timely receipt of the e-proforma and a realistic date for subsequent INR tests were considered important by GPs. Conclusion This study suggests the use of an e-proforma to communicate information about a high-risk medication, warfarin, to GPs on discharge optimises safe, informed prescribing and monitoring in primary care. The development of a discharge e-proforma for other high-risk medication as a patient safety improvement measure should be explored.

Citation

RUSHWORTH, G.F., DIACK, L., RUDD, I.G. and STEWART, D. 2015. General practitioner views of an electronic high-risk medicine proforma to facilitate information transfer. International journal of clinical pharmacy [online], 37(1), pages 4-7. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-0033-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 30, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Nov 14, 2014
• Publication Date: Feb 28, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2015
• Journal: International journal of clinical pharmacy
• Print ISSN: 2210-7703
• Electronic ISSN: 2210-7711
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 4-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-0033-8
• Keywords: High risk medication; Integrated care; Patient safety; Primary care; Warfarin
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1343
• Contract Date: Nov 12, 2015