Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34911534›Full record

ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2021

Safer prescription of drugs: impact of the PREFASEG system to aid clinical decision-making in primary care in Catalonia.

M Àngels Pons-Mesquida, Míriam Oms-Arias, Eduard Diogène-Fadini, Albert Figueras

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

M Àngels Pons-MesquidaUnitat de Coordinació i Estratègia del Medicament (UCEM), Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain. aponsmesquida@gencat.cat.
Míriam Oms-AriasUnitat de Coordinació i Estratègia del Medicament (UCEM), Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain.
Eduard Diogène-FadiniServei de Farmacologia Clínica, Institut Català de la Salut, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
Albert FiguerasDepartament de Farmacologia, Terapèutica i Toxicologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Institut Català de la Salut · ESUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn 2008, the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS, Catalan Health Institute) implemented a prescription decision support system in its electronic clinical workstation (ECW), which automatically generates online alerts for general practitioners when a possible medication-related problem (MRP) is detected. This tool is known as PREFASEG, and at the time of beginning a new treatment, it automatically assesses the suitability of the treatment for the individual patient. This analysis is based on ongoing treatments, demographic characteristics, existing pathologies, and patient biochemical variables. As a result of the assessment, therapeutic recommendations are provided. The objective of this study is to present the PREFASEG tool, analyse the main alerts that it generates, and determine the degree of alert acceptance.

methodsA cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to analyse the generation of MRP-related alerts detected by PREFASEG during 2016, 2017, and 2018 in primary care (PC) in Catalonia. The number of MRP alerts generated, the drugs involved, and the acceptance/rejection of the alerts were analysed. An alert was considered "accepted" when the medication that generated the alert was not prescribed, thereby following the recommendation given by the tool. The MRP alerts studied were therapeutic duplications, safety alerts issued by the Spanish Medicines Agency, and drugs not recommended for use in geriatrics. The prescriptions issued by 6411 ICS PC physicians who use the ECW and provide their services to 5.8 million Catalans through 288 PC teams were analysed.

resultsDuring the 3 years examined, 67.2 million new prescriptions were analysed, for which PREFASEG generated 4,379,866 alerts (1 for every 15 new treatments). A total of 1,222,159 alerts (28%) were accepted. Pharmacological interactions and therapeutic duplications were the most detected alerts, representing 40 and 30% of the total alerts, respectively. The main pharmacological groups involved in the safety alerts were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors.

conclusionsDuring the period analysed, 28% of the prescriptions wherein a toxicity-related PREFASEG alert was generated led to treatment modification, thereby helping to prevent the generation of potential safety MRPs. However, the tool should be further improved to increase alert acceptance and thereby improve patient safety.

Indexed as

Decision Support Systems, ClinicalMedical Order Entry SystemsPharmaceutical PreparationsClinical Decision-MakingCross-Sectional StudiesDrug InteractionsHumansMedication ErrorsPrescriptionsPrimary Health CareSpainPharmaceutical PreparationsClinical decision support systemClinical safetyElectronic prescriptionMedicines usePharmacovigilancePrimary care

Identifiers

PMID34911534
PMCPMC8675496
OpenAlexW4200283686

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.