Journal of biomedical informatics
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Showing Your Work: Impact of annotating electronic prescriptions with decision support results.
e-Prescribing systems with decision support do not routinely communicate an adequate amount of information regarding the prescribers' decision to pharmacists. To address this communication gap in the e-prescribing process, we implemented a system called Show Your Work (SYW) that appends alerts and override comments to e-prescriptions generated by an e-prescribing system. To assess the quantitative impact of this system, we conducted a randomized, double-blinded, controlled study to assess pharmacy callback rates and types, and to uncover any unintended consequences of the annotations. ⋯ Most respondents agreed (69%) that SYW favorably impacted callbacks--especially with pediatric prescriptions (82%). Comments suggested that SYW increased callbacks where necessary and decreased them in other situations, but did not contribute to unnecessary callbacks. These findings support the continued and potentially expanded use of SYW by e-prescribing systems to enhance communication with pharmacists.