Statin Reminders for Improving Prescribing in Primary Care

Summary

Statins reduce cardiovascular events and mortality, but only 30% of eligible primary care patients nationally are on statins. Clinical decision support (CDS) interventions in the electronic health record (EHR) can deliver education to providers and increase adherence to guideline recommendations via many potential forms of delivery. Interruptive alerts are an effective form of CDS but disrupt clinician workflow and increase alert fatigue in an age of clinician burnout and frustration with the EHR. Non-interruptive reminders are proposed as an alternative method of delivering CDS; however, they require active pursuit by the provider, and their effectiveness compared to interruptive alerts has not been rigorously studied. The investigators propose a randomized trial comparing the effect of interruptive vs. non-interruptive reminders displayed to clinicians to increase statin prescribing in primary care clinics.

Conditions

• Cholesterol, Elevated
• Clinical Decision Support
• Education

Interventions

OTHER

Interruptive Reminder

The reminder will display at the time the chart is opened for eligible patient visits and alert clinicians that a statin is recommended for the patient and list the reasons the statin is indicated. It will give the clinicians a defaulted option for statin prescription as well as alternatives. If the clinician accepts the alert, an order for a statin will be placed in their "shopping cart" for convenience, and the order can be signed to prescribe the medication. If the clinician does not wish to prescribe a statin from the reminder, they can choose an acknowledgement reason.

OTHER

Non-interruptive Reminder

The reminder will have the same format as the interruptive reminder group, but it will not be displayed unless providers seek out the education at their own initiative. The reminder will alert clinicians that a statin is recommended for the patient and list the reasons the statin is indicated. It will give the clinicians a defaulted option for statin prescription as well as alternatives. If the clinician accepts the alert, an order for a statin will be placed in their "shopping cart" for convenience, and the order can be signed to prescribe the medication. If the clinician does not wish to prescribe a statin from the reminder, they can choose an acknowledgement reason.

OTHER

No Reminder

No reminder recommending a statin will be displayed/available to the provider.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Aileen P Wright, MD, MS · Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-08-14

Primary Completion

2024-11-20

Completion

2025-11-19

Countries

• United States

Study Locations