Trial reportBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2018
Effects of training physicians in electronic prescribing in the outpatient setting on clinical, learning and behavioural outcomes: a cluster randomized trial.
Trial report in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effects of clinical decision support system for prescribing medication on patient outcomes and physician practice performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021Pooled it
- Digital Learning to Improve Safe and Effective Prescribing: A Systematic Review.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of training physicians in electronic prescribing in the outpatient setting on clinical, learning and behavioural outcomes: a cluster randomized trial.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2018Trial
- Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of electronic health interventions to reduce medication errors.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Programs and Strategies in Saudi Arabia: A Narrative Review.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2025Review
- Interdisciplinary Physician-Pharmacist Medication Review for Outpatients With Heart Failure: A Subanalysis of the PHARM-CHF Randomized Controlled Trial.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Environmental Impact and Provider Satisfaction Associated with ePrescriptions in Otolaryngology: A Quality Improvement Study.Journal of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery = Le Journal d'oto-rhino-laryngologie et de chirurgie cervico-facialeArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsElectronic prescribing systems may improve medication safety, but only when used appropriately. The effects of task analysis-based training on clinical, learning and behavioural outcomes were evaluated in the outpatient setting, compared with the usual educational approach.
methodsThis was a multicentre, cluster randomized trial [EDUCATional intervention for IT-mediated MEDication management (MEDUCATE trial)], with physicians as the unit of analysis. It took place in the outpatient clinics of two academic hospitals. Participants comprised specialists and residents (specialty trainees, in the UK) and their patients. Training took the form of a small-group session and an e-learning. The primary outcome was the proportion of medication discrepancies per physician, measured as discrepancies between medications registered by physicians in the electronic prescribing system and those reported by patients. Clinical consequences were estimated by the proportion of patients per physician with at least one missed drug-drug interaction with the potential for causing adverse drug events. A questionnaire assessed physicians' knowledge and skills.
resultsAmong 124 participating physicians, primary outcome data for 115 (93%) were available. A total of 1094 patients were included. A mean of 48% of registered medications per physician were discrepant with the medications that their patients reported in both groups (P = 0.14). Due to registration omissions, a mean of 4% of patients per physician had one or more missed drug-drug interactions with the potential to cause a clinically relevant adverse drug event in the intervention group, and 7% in controls (P = 0.11). The percentages of correct answers on the knowledge and skills test were higher in the intervention group (57%) compared with controls (51%; P = 0.01).
conclusionThe training equipped outpatient physicians with the knowledge and skills for appropriate use of electronic prescribing systems, but had no effect on medication discrepancies.
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Registered trials
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