Impact of pharmacist-evaluated clinical decision support system alerts on potentially missing or inappropriately prescribed proton pump inhibitors at hospital discharge: a retrospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Background Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are among the most prescribed drugs. A clinical decision support system (CDSS) could improve their rational use. Aim The impact of an electronic algorithm (e-algorithm) implemented in a CDSS on potentially missing or inappropriately prescribed PPIs at hospital discharge, its specificity and sensitivity, and the outcome of the alerts issued were analysed. Method An e-algorithm continuously monitored patients of a tertiary care hospital for missing or inappropriate PPIs. Following relevance assessment by a pharmacist, the alerts raised were either displayed in the patients’ electronic record or dismissed. After a three-month period, all adult patients’ records were retrospectively reviewed for missing or inappropriate PPIs at discharge. The results were compared with a corresponding period before CDSS introduction. Sensitivity, specificity and outcome of alerts were quantified. Results In a 3-month period with 5018 patients, the CDSS created 158 alerts for missing PPIs and 464 alerts for inappropriate PPIs. PPI prescribing was proposed 81 times and PPI termination 122 times, with acceptance rates of 73% and 34%, respectively. A specificity of 99.4% and sensitivity of 92.0% for missing PPIs and a specificity of 97.1% and a sensitivity of 69.7% for inappropriate PPIs were calculated. The algorithm reduced incidents of missing PPIs by 63.4% (p < 0.001) and of inappropriate PPIs by 16.2% (p = 0.022). Conclusion The algorithm identified patients without necessary gastroprotection or inappropriate PPIs with high specificity and acceptable sensitivity. It positively impacted the rational use of PPIs by reducing incidents of missing and inappropriate PPIs.