Title: Randomized Trial of an EHR Embedded Risk Calculator vs. Standard VTE Prophylaxis for Medical Patients

May 23, 2019 updated by: Michael Rothberg, The Cleveland Clinic

Title: EHR Embedded Risk Calculator vs. Standard VTE Prophylaxis for Medical Patients

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious source of hospital morbidity and mortality. Chemoprophylaxis with heparin has been shown to reduce the occurrence of VTE, but it increases the risk of bleeding and it is uncomfortable to receive. For that reason, VTE prophylaxis should be reserved for patients at moderate to high risk of VTE and low risk of bleeding. However, identifying patients at low risk for VTE can be difficult, because most patients have at least one risk factor for VTE and there are no validated risk prediction tools for use in US hospitals. Instead, many hospitals have opted for a one-size-fits-all approach with near-universal prophylaxis, putting many patients at unnecessary risk of bleeding. However, to provide care that is truly patient-centered, US physicians face several challenges. First, there is no accepted risk calculator that they can use to estimate an individual patient's risk. Second, risk calculators are not readily available at the point of care. As a result, prophylaxis rates have remained stubbornly low in some institutions, while in others the rate of prophylaxis is high, but the rate of inappropriate prophylaxis is also high. This study uses a risk prediction tool developed at the Cleveland Clinic to assess an individual patient's risk of VTE. The tool is incorporated into the electronic health record in the form of a smart order set. In this randomized trial, we will assess the effects of the order set on physician behavior and patient outcomes . Examining the effectiveness of an electronic decision aid embedded in an EHR in routine clinical practice will test whether a smart order set can improve patient care by incorporating patient-specific factors into a complex decision process.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Specific Aim:

Assess the effects of a VTE risk calculator embedded in the admission order set vs. usual care on physician behavior and patient outcomes in a randomized trial

Research Strategy:

Utilizing a Step-Wedge design, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted at 10 Cleveland Clinic hospitals in efforts to assess the effects of a VTE (venous thromboembolism) risk calculator embedded in the admission order set vs. usual care on physician behavior and patient outcomes. Hospitals will be randomized to display the risk calculator to physicians admitting patients or to the usual order set that contains only a description of VTE risk factors. The risk calculator will produce a predicted risk of VTE together with a recommendation regarding the use of prophylaxis for an individual patient. Physicians will be free to ignore the calculator or override its results if they so choose.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

90537

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
        • Cleveland Clinic Health System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All adult patients (age ≥18 years) admitted to a medical service, including intensive care units, between September 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018 will be eligible.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • patients not eligible to receive VTE prophylaxis because they are already receiving anticoagulation for another purpose (e.g. warfarin for atrial fibrillation or LMWH for DVT or PE present on admission),
  • patients admitted with a terminal condition who are receiving comfort care only
  • Surgical patients who are admitted to the medical service temporarily (e.g. hip fracture)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Usual Care
Control: Standard order set without risk calculator (usual care)
Active Comparator: Risk calculator
Intervention: VTE risk calculator embedded in the smart order set incorporated into the EHR and activated for all medical patients
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk calculator embedded in the admission order set with personalized recommendation for prophylaxis

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Appropriate VTE prophylaxis
Time Frame: within 48 hours of index hospitalization admission
Proportion of patients at high risk of VTE who receive prophylaxis and the proportion of patients at low risk who do not receive prophylaxis
within 48 hours of index hospitalization admission

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total patients receiving prophylaxis
Time Frame: 14 days
All patients who received any chemoprophylaxis during hospitalization, regardless of risk status.
14 days
Rate of VTE among high risk patients
Time Frame: 14 days
Symptomatic VTE events not present on admission occurring among patients at high risk for VTE according to the risk calculator.
14 days
Rate of VTE among high risk patients
Time Frame: 45 days
Symptomatic VTE events not present on admission occurring among patients at high risk for VTE according to the risk calculator.
45 days
Rate of major bleeding among high risk patients
Time Frame: 14 days
Major bleeding events among patients with risk factors for bleeding.
14 days
Average cost of prophylaxis
Time Frame: 14 days
Total cost of prophylaxis received during hospitalization
14 days
Average cost of hospitalization
Time Frame: Up to 30 days
Cost of hospitalization as determined by the hospital cost accounting system
Up to 30 days
Average length of stay
Time Frame: Up to 30 days
Total days in hospital
Up to 30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Michael Rothberg, The Cleveland Clinic

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 4, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 14, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

April 14, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 10, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

August 9, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 24, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 23, 2019

Last Verified

May 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-396

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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