Design and implementation of a clinical decision support tool for primary palliative Care for Emergency Medicine (PRIM-ER)

Audrey Tan, Mark Durbin, Frank R. Chung, Ada L. Rubin, Allison M. Cuthel, Jordan A. McQuilkin, Aram S. Modrek, Catherine Jamin, Nicholas Gavin, Devin Mann, Jordan L. Swartz, Jonathan S. Austrian, Paul A. Testa, Jacob D. Hill, Corita R. Grudzen, Benjamin Abella, David Allard, Jonathan Austrian, M. Fernanda Bellolio, Michael BlumTodd Burstain, Jeffrey Caterino, Julie Cooper, Bruce Darrow, Marie Carmelle Elie, Ahmed Elsayem, John Frenzel, Howard Goldberg, Corita Grudzen, Iris Herrera, John Howell, Allen Hsaio, Eric Isaacs, Karen Jubanyik, Ken Kawamoto, Sangeeta Lamba, Troy Madsen, Joseph Miller, Kei Ouchi, Rajesh Patel, Rajiv Pramanik, Lynne Richardson, Milisa Rizer, Elizabeth Schoenfeld, Timothy Shiuh, Ashley Shreves, Robert Swor, Audrey Tan, Paul Testa, Arvind Venkat, Kendall Webb, Howard Weeks, Robert White, Decker Wyatt, Matthew Zimmie, Erin Zimny

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    38 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Background: The emergency department is a critical juncture in the trajectory of care of patients with serious, life-limiting illness. Implementation of a clinical decision support (CDS) tool automates identification of older adults who may benefit from palliative care instead of relying upon providers to identify such patients, thus improving quality of care by assisting providers with adhering to guidelines. The Primary Palliative Care for Emergency Medicine (PRIM-ER) study aims to optimize the use of the electronic health record by creating a CDS tool to identify high risk patients most likely to benefit from primary palliative care and provide point-of-care clinical recommendations. Methods: A clinical decision support tool entitled Emergency Department Supportive Care Clinical Decision Support (Support-ED) was developed as part of an institutionally-sponsored value based medicine initiative at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health. A multidisciplinary approach was used to develop Support-ED including: a scoping review of ED palliative care screening tools; launch of a workgroup to identify patient screening criteria and appropriate referral services; initial design and usability testing via the standard System Usability Scale questionnaire, education of the ED workforce on the Support-ED background, purpose and use, and; creation of a dashboard for monitoring and feedback. Results: The scoping review identified the Palliative Care and Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) survey as a validated instrument in which to adapt and apply for the creation of the CDS tool. The multidisciplinary workshops identified two primary objectives of the CDS: to identify patients with indicators of serious life limiting illness, and to assist with referrals to services such as palliative care or social work. Additionally, the iterative design process yielded three specific patient scenarios that trigger a clinical alert to fire, including: 1) when an advance care planning document was present, 2) when a patient had a previous disposition to hospice, and 3) when historical and/or current clinical data points identify a serious life-limiting illness without an advance care planning document present. Monitoring and feedback indicated a need for several modifications to improve CDS functionality. Conclusions: CDS can be an effective tool in the implementation of primary palliative care quality improvement best practices. Health systems should thoughtfully consider tailoring their CDSs in order to adapt to their unique workflows and environments. The findings of this research can assist health systems in effectively integrating a primary palliative care CDS system seamlessly into their processes of care. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03424109. Registered 6 February 2018, Grant Number: AT009844-01.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Article number13
    JournalBMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
    Volume20
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Jan 28 2020

    Keywords

    • Clinical decision support
    • Electronic health records
    • Emergency medicine
    • Palliative care
    • Quality improvement

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Health Policy
    • Health Informatics

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