Implementing an EHR guideline–based intervention in paper ordering systems.
Bell-Brown, A; Egan, K; Kreizenbeck, KL; Watabayashi, K; Lyman, GH; Hershman, DL; Bansal, A; Barlow, WE; Sullivan, SD; Ramsey, SD
Published in: Journal of Clinical Oncology
56 Background: Studies show Colony Stimulating Factor (CSF) prescribing is inconsistent with national guidelines. SWOG trial S1415CD is a pragmatic study comparing outcomes of CSF use in usual care with care that uses guideline-informed standing CSF orders. The intervention includes embedded CSF orders based on Febrile Neutropenia (FN) risk and system note wording describing guideline recommendations. Of 24 intervention sites, five (20.8%) use paper, presenting the challenge of translating an electronic health record (EHR) intervention to paper order entry systems (OES). Methods: Paper sites were surveyed on their chemotherapy OES to inform translation of the intervention. We worked with sites to develop a workflow consistent with the key principles of the intervention: Recommendation language 1) is present before prescribing CSF, 2) reaches all study-authorized orders, 3) reaches all patients on study-authorized orders, and 4) chemotherapy and CSF are ordered before the patient is enrolled. Results: Each site had a distinct workflow that was reworked (Table 1). Paper sites took 4-10 months (average 7.6) for implementation; EHR sites took 1-10 months (average 4.5). Conclusions: Implementing an EHR-centric intervention in paper sites is feasible with appropriate time and resources built into a project to account for the unique challenges. As paper sites represented one fifth of the intervention sites, it is vital to include paper sites in OES interventions for generalizability of results. Clinical trial information: NCT02728596. [Table: see text]
