Improving the safety features of GP computer systems

1. Improving the safety features of GP computer systems Report on an NPSA-funded project Professor Tony Avery University of Nottingham

2. Background • There are concerns about patient safety in primary care in terms of: • Prescribing errors • Failure to complete intended actions such as patient referrals and medication monitoring • Failure to respond to abnormal results or advice from other professionals • Safe and effective communication of information between GPs and patients and professionals in secondary care and community pharmacy

3. Potential role of computer systems • Computers have considerable potential to help GPs to practise safely in terms of providing: • Accurate information on patients and drugs at the point of decision-making • Effective decision support • Intelligent hazard alerts for cautions, contraindications, drug interactions and allergies • Help with timely and appropriate monitoring • Help with error trapping • Reporting on patients at risk

8. Why the need for a project? • While computer systems have considerable potential some problems have been highlighted: • GPs and practice staff may not know how to make best use of their systems and may not use important safety features • GPs may override hazard alerts • Computer systems may not contain all the safety features that are desirable

9. Objectives of the project • To identify the most important safety issues regarding GP computer systems • To assess GP computer systems in terms of these safety features • To determine GPs’ knowledge, use and training needs in relation to computerised safety features • To work with stakeholders to produce specifications for GP computer suppliers and for training practice staff

10. Identifying the most important safety issues • Methods used: • Stakeholder interviews • Two-round Delphi

11. GPs Computer system suppliers Drug database suppliers SCHIN RCGP DoH NHSIA Design Authority MDU and MPS Patients’ representative Experts in health informatics Stakeholder interviews

12. Key themes from stakeholder interviews (1) • The need for a drug dictionary for NHS primary care to improve communication between systems • The need for drug ontologies that provide sensible alerts and decision support • The need to ensure that users record data so that functionality is available when required

13. Key themes from stakeholder interviews (2) • The need to ensure that users have access to accurate and safe information on which to guide decision making • The need to ensure that account is taken of human ergonomics in the ways in which safety information is presented to users and in how they are encouraged to respond • The need for practitioners to make best use of computerised systems for ensuring that intended actions such as patient referrals and medication monitoring are completed • The need for audit trails • The need for training in the effective use of systems

14. The Delphi exercise • 21 participants • Presented with 55 statements • 33 statements ranked as important or very important by over 90% of respondents

15. Key issues from Delphi • Importance of computerised alerts • Avoiding spurious alerts • Making it difficult to override critical alerts and to have audit trails • Support for safe repeat prescribing • Effective computer-user interface • Importance of call and recall • Need to be able to run “safety reports”

16. Assessing GP computer systems • From the results of the Delphi we have developed a series of vignettes/test cases • These have been used on the main GP computer systems with dummy patients • Suppliers have been asked to comment on the results • Results will be presented in anonymised form

17. Key points from assessment of GP computer systems • There are a lot of good features, but we have detected some problems: • Lack of alerts in relation to contraindications • Spurious alerts • Failures of drug allergy warnings • Risks of prescribing drugs with similar names • Lack of warning for methotrexate • “Hidden” alerts • It is easy to override most alerts • Lack of audit trials

30. Determining GPs’ knowledge, use and training needs • We have undertaken interviews with GPs: • There was a strong sense that they have come to rely on their computers to provide alerts • We have developed a questionnaire that has been sent to GPs in two sites in England (387 responses; 64% response rate)

31. Key findings from the GP questionnaire (1) • The following are regarded as important by >90% of GPs • computerised alerts • Allergy alerts (99%) • Interaction alerts (99%) • Contraindication alerts (99%) • Need to make it more difficult to override critical alerts • Systems for recall for patient monitoring

32. Key findings from GP questionnaire (2) • GPs are not fully aware of the safety features on their computer systems, e.g. a third of users of a system that doesn’t have contraindication alerts thought that the system did have these alerts! • Only a minority have had training on the use of safety features on their computers • The preferred method for learning more about the use of safety features is “hands-on” learning with tuition (either one-to-one or in a group setting)

33. Stakeholder’s views on how to make improvements to systems • System suppliers are willing to make changes provided these are sensible and in keeping with GP opinion • Suppliers acknowledge that change is more likely to take place if this is made mandatory rather than voluntary • Working through the National Programme for IT in the NHS seems to be the best way of ensuring change

34. Suggestions for improvement in the short-term • Act to close the loophole in the recording of allergy alerts • Define the most important hazard alerts, ensure these are available on all systems and that they cannot easily be overridden • Ensure that system suppliers make full use of ontologies available to them, e.g. for contraindication alerts • Develop a computerised “query set” for interrogating GP computer systems to identify hazards • Develop a training package to help practices make best use of the safety features of their clinical computer systems

35. Suggestions for improvement in the longer-term • Introduce a drug dictionary for the NHS • Evaluate existing ontologies to determine whether these are fit-for-purpose or whether alternatives need to be developed • Ensure that systems are designed to “make it easy to do the right thing” • Ensure that the design of alert messages take account of research indicating best practice • Ensure that health professionals are properly trained to make best use their systems • Work to develop safety culture in primary care

36. Summary • GP computer systems already have a number of important safety features • There are problems in that • GPs have come to rely on hazard alerts when they are not full-proof • GPs do not know how to make best use of safety features on their systems • There are a number of solutions that could either • Help to improve the safety features of GP computer systems • Help to improve the abilities of healthcare professionals to use these safety features