Computer reminders to implement preventive care guidelines for hospitalized patients

• HIT Description: The Regenstrief Medical Record System generating computer reminders. At the time of this study, the system provided comprehensive longitudinal electronic patient record that integrated inpatient and outpatient data and included demographic information; diagnoses; and problem lists, inpatient and outpatient visits; admitting, history, and physical examination reports; operative reports; discharge summaries; vital signs; immunizations; almost all diagnostic test results; and inpatient and outpatient prescriptions. More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: Improve screening and prevention in hospitalized patients
  
• Years of study: 1992-1993
  
• Study Design: RCT
  
• Outcomes: Utilization of services
  

• Settings: This study was conducted at a public urban academically affiliated hospital on the inpatient medicine ward, which was staffed by faculty Internists and Internal Medicine house staff.
• Intervention: Admitting ward teams were randomized to intervention or control with the intervention group receiving computer-generated reminders for 22 preventive-care measures from the US Preventive Services Taskforce, as reminders on the computer screen or suggested orders. 1,622 hospitalizations were evaluated during the study period. Reminders were generated for a total of 4,649 preventive-care services, for an average of 2.9 reminders per hospitalized patient.
• Utilization of preventive services outcomes: Overall, intervention teams complied with 23% of reminders, compared with 24% of services delivered by the control teams. There was no effect of the computerized reminders on the delivery of preventive-care services for hospitalized patients.