EMR Defaults to Nudge Opioid Prescribing

November 4, 2019 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

Effect of Default Electronic Health Record Settings on Clinician Opioid Prescribing Patterns in Emergency Departments

The investigators conducted a prospective, block-randomized study to determine whether and to what extent changes in the default settings in the electronic medical record (EMR) affect opioid prescriptions for patients discharged from emergency departments (EDs).

Study Overview

Detailed Description

In two large, urban emergency departments, we randomly altered the pre-populated dispense quantities of discharge prescriptions for commonly-prescribed opioids over a series of five 4-week blocks. These changes were made without announcement, and providers were not informed of the study itself.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

104

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Discharge prescription from emergency for study drug: hydrocodone/acetaminophen, oxycodone, or oxycodone/acetaminophen.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none

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: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Null setting, forced entry

Each arm sets the default quantity (preset quantity) embedded in the electronic medical record for study opioids.

This arm has a default setting for opioid quantity set at -blank-. This setting required the prescriber to enter a quantity in order to write a prescription.

For each of the arms, the investigators modified the default setting for the dispense quantity of study opioids on the electronic medical record settings for discharge prescriptions.

Study drugs include acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 7.5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 10mg, oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 10mg.

Experimental: 5 tablet default

Each arm sets the default quantity (preset quantity) embedded in the electronic medical record for study opioids.

This arm has a default setting for opioid quantity set at 5.

For each of the arms, the investigators modified the default setting for the dispense quantity of study opioids on the electronic medical record settings for discharge prescriptions.

Study drugs include acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 7.5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 10mg, oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 10mg.

Experimental: 10 tablet default

Each arm sets the default quantity (preset quantity) embedded in the electronic medical record for study opioids.

This arm has a default setting for opioid quantity set at 10.

For each of the arms, the investigators modified the default setting for the dispense quantity of study opioids on the electronic medical record settings for discharge prescriptions.

Study drugs include acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 7.5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 10mg, oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 10mg.

Experimental: 15 tablet default

Each arm sets the default quantity (preset quantity) embedded in the electronic medical record for study opioids.

This arm has a default setting for opioid quantity set at 15.

For each of the arms, the investigators modified the default setting for the dispense quantity of study opioids on the electronic medical record settings for discharge prescriptions.

Study drugs include acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 7.5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 10mg, oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 10mg.

Active Comparator: Status quo default setting

Each arm sets the default quantity (preset quantity) embedded in the electronic medical record for study opioids.

This arm has a default setting for opioid quantity set at the status quo value for each site (20 for site 1, 12 for site 2).

For each of the arms, the investigators modified the default setting for the dispense quantity of study opioids on the electronic medical record settings for discharge prescriptions.

Study drugs include acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 7.5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + hydrocodone 10mg, oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 5mg, acetaminophen 325mg + oxycodone 10mg.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dispense quantity of prescribed opioids
Time Frame: Through study completion, approximately 340 days
The dispense quantity of prescribed study drugs was collected from the electronic medical record at each site. The mean and median quantities per prescription according to each study arm were compared.
Through study completion, approximately 340 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion ≤12
Time Frame: Through study completion, approximately 340 days
The dispense quantity of study drugs was collected from the electronic medical record at each site. The proportion of prescriptions at 12 or fewer tablets was compared across study arms.
Through study completion, approximately 340 days
Proportion at default setting
Time Frame: Through study completion, approximately 340 days
The dispense quantity of study drugs was collected from the electronic medical record at each site. The proportion of prescriptions written for the given default setting was compared across treatment arms.
Through study completion, approximately 340 days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Juan Carlos Montoy, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

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.

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)

October 3, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 3, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

September 3, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 28, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

November 7, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 7, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2019

Last Verified

November 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.

Clinical Trials on Pain, Acute

Clinical Trials on Default settings for opioid prescriptions (acetaminophen/hydrocodone, oxycodone, acetaminophen/oxycodone)

3
Subscribe