Trial reportBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2016
E-learning in order to improve drug prescription for hospitalized older patients: a cluster-randomized controlled study.
Trial report in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electronic Health Record Interventions to Reduce Risk of Hospital Readmissions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of outcomes reported in studies to optimise the medication use of patients at hospital discharge.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to improve the appropriate use of polypharmacy for older people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Medication review in hospitalised patients to reduce morbidity and mortality.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Digital Learning to Improve Safe and Effective Prescribing: A Systematic Review.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2019Pooled it
- Online Digital Education for Postregistration Training of Medical Doctors: Systematic Review by the Digital Health Education Collaboration.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Pooled it
- Interventions to improve the appropriate use of polypharmacy for older people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- E-learning for health professionals.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- The effect of prescriber education on medication-related patient harm in the hospital: a systematic review.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2017Pooled it
- Using a mobile application to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing for older Brazilian adults in primary care: a triple-blind randomised clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2024Trial
- Appropriateness of prescription of oral anticoagulant therapy in acutely hospitalized older people with atrial fibrillation. Secondary analysis of the SIM-AF cluster randomized clinical trial.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Trial
- Use of an e-Learning Educational Module to Better Equip Doctors to Prescribe for Older Patients: A Randomised Controlled Trial.Drugs & aging · 2017Trial
- E-learning in order to improve drug prescription for hospitalized older patients: a cluster-randomized controlled study.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2016Trial
- Potentially inappropriate prescriptions in acutely admitted older patients: a development study to create a clinical decision support tool using a Delphi process.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- FORTA Score and Negative Outcomes in Older Adults: Insights from Italian Internal Medicine Wards.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2025Article
- Specifying behavioural and strategy components of de-implementation efforts targeting low-value prescribing practices in secondary health care.Implementation science communications · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of de-implementation strategies for low-value prescribing in secondary care: a systematic review.Implementation science communications · 2023Review
- A comparison of the clinical pharmacotherapy knowledge of medical and surgical residents and consultants.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Article
- Prescription Appropriateness of Drugs for Peptic Ulcer and Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease: Baseline Assessment in the LAPTOP-PPI Cluster Randomized Trial.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- A narrative review of evidence to guide deprescribing among older adults.Journal of general and family medicine · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsThe aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of an e-learning educational program meant to foster the quality of drug prescription in hospitalized elderly patients.
methodsTwenty geriatric and internal medicine wards were randomized to intervention (e-learning educational program) or control (basic geriatric pharmacology notions). Logistic regression analysis was used in order to assess the effect of the intervention on the use of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM, primary outcome) at hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes were a reduced prevalence of at least one potential drug-drug interaction (DDI) and potentially severe DDI at discharge. Mortality rate and incidence of re-hospitalizations were other secondary outcomes assessed at the 12-month follow-up.
resultsA total of 697 patients (347 in the intervention and 350 in the control arms) were enrolled. No difference in the prevalence of PIM at discharge was found between arms (OR 1.29 95%CI 0.87-1.91). We also found no decrease in the prevalence of DDI (OR 0.67 95%CI 0.34-1.28) and potentially severe DDI (OR 0.86 95%CI 0.63-1.15) at discharge, nor in mortality rates and incidence of re-hospitalization at 12-month follow-up.
conclusionsThis e-learning educational program had no clear effect on the quality of drug prescription and clinical outcomes in hospitalized elderly patients. Given the high prevalence of PIMs and potential DDIs recorded in the frame of this study, other approaches should be developed in order to improve the quality of drug prescription in this population.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.