3 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Specific Aims: (Study #1, funded by AHRQ, completed May 2011) 1. To create an automatic notification system to prompt physicians of test results finalized after discharge. 2. To evaluate the impact of this system on physician awareness of test results finalized after discharge. Hypothesis: Automatic email notification will improve physician awareness of test results finalized after discharge compared to usual care. Specific Aims: (Study #2, funded by CRICO, completed July 2012) 1. To identify a cohort of discharged patients with potentially actionable results of tests pending at discharge (TPAD). 2. To determine if automated email notification of the finalized results of potentially actionable TPADs affects the rate of post-discharge actions taken as documented in the electronic medical record (EMR). Hypothesis: Automated email notification of the finalized results of potentially actionable TPADs increases the rate of actions taken post-discharge.
Clinically significant test results require timely clinician follow-up including the non-urgent clinically significant, or actionable, test results that have received less standardized management and attention. Unfortunately, failure to correctly manage actionable test results is not infrequent and may be associated with important delays in diagnosis and treatment and patient harm. The investigators have designed a safe practice intervention to improve the management of actionable test results for ambulatory patients in a large healthcare system.
This project aims to define the problem of results that return after patient discharge and to study the implementation of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR)-based system for tracking these results.