Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A cluster randomized trial of two implementation strategies to deliver audit and feedback in the EQUIPPED medication safety program.
The Enhancing the Quality of Prescribing Practices for Older Adults Discharged from the Emergency Department (EQUIPPED) medication safety program involves three core components including provider education, clinical decision support, and audit and feedback using the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria to determine potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). This study evaluated implementation of audit and feedback through a centralized informatics-based dashboard compared to academic detailing delivered one on one by an EQUIPPED champion. ⋯ Eight VA EDs successfully implemented the core components of the EQUIPPED program amid the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the academic detailing approach to EQUIPPED audit and feedback was more effective at the group level to improve safe prescribing for older Veterans discharged from the ED, the trial suggests that dashboard-based audit and feedback is a reasonable strategy in resource-limited settings.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Patient Experiences of a Care Transition Intervention for Veterans to Reduce Emergency Department Visits.
Care transition interventions (CTIs) are used to improve outcomes after an emergency department (ED) visit. A recent randomized controlled trial of a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) CTI titled Discharge Information and Support for Patients receiving Outpatient care in the ED (DISPO ED) demonstrated no difference in repeat ED visits. However, changes in health care utilization are not the only measures of a CTI worth evaluation, and there is interest in using patient-centered outcomes to assess CTIs as well. To inform future CTI design and outcome measure selection, the study aims were to understand how patients experienced the CTI and what elements they valued. ⋯ Intervention users described assistance with care coordination as well as clinical concerns. We identified aspects that were highly valued by the participants, such as interpersonal support and empathy from the interventionist. These findings suggest the need for more comprehensive nonutilization outcome measures for CTIs to capture the patient's perspective.