The study analyzed clinical decision support and opioid drug alerts. One commercial EHR sounded 123 “unnecessary and clinical inconsequential alerts” to prevent a single adverse drug event.
According to the study, a retrospective study of emergency department patients between September 2012 and January 2013, 14 of 4,581 patients experienced an adverse drug event. Eight of those were due to opioids. However, researchers indicate none of the adverse drug events were preventable using the EHR’s clinical decision support element.
Additionally, 98.9 percent of opioid alerts did not result in actual or avoided adverse drug events, and 96.3 percent of opioid alerts were overridden, according to the study.
“The danger here is that medical providers may develop ‘alert fatigue,’ leading to compromised patient safety,” said Emma Genco, lead study author. “It is will established that clinical decision support prevents adverse drug events, but it is essential that alerting systems be refined to highlight only the clinically significant alerts.”
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