Barriers to implementing evidence-based clinical guidelines: a survey of early adopters

Pharmacogenomics-Based Point-of-Care Clinical Decision Support Significantly Alters Drug Prescribing

Changes in behavior are necessary to apply genomic discoveries to practice. We prospectively studied medication changes made by providers representing eight different medicine specialty clinics whose patients had submitted to preemptive pharmacogenomic genotyping. An institutional clinical decision support (CDS) system provided pharmacogenomic results using traffic light alerts: green = genomically favorable, yellow = genomic caution, red = high risk. The influence of pharmacogenomic alerts on prescribing behaviors was the primary endpoint. In all, 2,279 outpatient encounters were analyzed. Independent of other potential prescribing mediators, medications with high pharmacogenomic risk were changed significantly more often than prescription drugs lacking pharmacogenomic information (odds ratio (OR) = 26.2 (9.0-75.3), P < 0.0001). Medications with cautionary pharmacogenomic information were also changed more frequently (OR = 2.4 (1.7-3.5), P < 0.0001). No pharmacogenomically high-risk medications were prescribed during the entire study when physicians consulted the CDS tool. Pharmacogenomic information improved prescribing in patterns aimed at reducing patient risk, demonstrating that enhanced prescription decision-making is achievable through clinical integration of genomic medicine.

Uptake of the Congenital Muscular Torticollis Clinical Practice Guideline Into Pediatric Practice

PURPOSE

This study describes survey responses about implementation of the congenital muscular torticollis clinical practice guideline (CMT-CPG) by pediatric physical therapists (PT) and successes and challenges with knowledge-brokering activities.

METHODS

An online survey was distributed to pediatric PTs who self-identified with practice experience with congenital muscular torticollis. Data were analyzed for implementation frequency of guideline recommendations and differences pre and postpublication of the CMT-CPG.

RESULTS

After publication, guideline recommendation implementation improved such that no recommendation was being implemented by less than 50% of respondents, and most were implemented by greater than 90%. The majority of respondents participated in knowledge brokering; however, many indicated minimal effectiveness of those activities.

CONCLUSIONS

The CMT-CPG has successfully aided in changing practice. Participants identified areas of challenge and success in translating recommendations into practice and in knowledge brokering that may be helpful for the development of future CPGs.

Barriers and enablers for the development and implementation of allied health clinical practice guidelines in South African primary healthcare settings: a qualitative study

Background

The South African allied health (AH) primary healthcare (PHC) workforce is challenged with the complex rehabilitation needs of escalating patient numbers. The application of evidence-based care using clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) is one way to make efficient and effective use of resources. Although CPGs are common for AH in high-income countries, there is limited understanding of how to do this in low- to middle-income countries. This paper describes barriers and enablers for AH CPG uptake in South African PHC.

Methods

Semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken with 25 South African AH managers, policymakers, clinicians and academics to explore perspectives on CPGs. Interviews were conducted by researcher dyads, one being familiar with South African AH PHC practice and the other with CPG expertise. Rigour and transparency of data collection was ensured. Interview transcripts were analysed by structuring content into codes, categories and themes. Exemplar quotations were extracted to support themes.

Results

CPGs were generally perceived to be relevant to assist AH providers to address the challenges of consistently providing evidence-based care in South African PHC settings. CPGs were considered to be tools for managing clinical, social and economic complexities of AH PHC practice, particularly if CPG recommendations were contextusalised. CPG uptake was one way to deal with increasing pressures to make efficient use of scarce financial resources, and to demonstrate professional legitimacy. Themes comprised organisational infrastructures and capacities for CPG uptake, interactions between AH actors and interaction with broader political structures, the nature of AH evidence in CPGs, and effectively implementing CPGs into practice.

Conclusion

CPGs contextualised to local circumstances offer South African PHC AH services with an efficient vehicle for putting evidence into practice. There are challenges to doing this, related to local barriers such as geography, AH training, workforce availability, scarce resources, an escalating number of patients requiring complex rehabilitation, and local knowledge. Concerted attempts to implement locally relevant CPGs for AH primary care in South Africa are required to improve widespread commitment to evidence-based care, as well as to plan efficient and effective service delivery models.

From dental science to clinical practice: Knowledge translation and evidence-based dentistry principles

It has been claimed that in order to decrease the gap between what we know and what we do, research findings must be translated from knowledge to action. Such practices better enable dentists to make evidence-based decisions instead of personal ideas and judgments. To this end, this literature review aims to revisit the concepts of knowledge translation and evidence-based dentistry (EBD) and depict their role and influence within dental education. It addresses some possible strategies to facilitate knowledge translation (KT), encourage dental students to use EBD principles, and to encourage dental educators to create an environment in which students become self-directed learners. It concludes with a call to develop up-to-date and efficient online platforms that could grant dentists better access to EBD sources in order to more efficiently translate research evidence into the clinic.

Evidence-Based Dentistry in Everyday Practice

This article informs readers of a method of implementing evidence-based dentistry in practice. Following these steps, practitioners should be able to use this skill in an efficient manner. The importance of evidence-based dentistry and its relevance to situations encountered in everyday practice is also highlighted. Clinical relevance: This article highlights a series of steps to be followed by practitioners to ensure that treatment provided is supported by the most recent, good quality evidence.

Environmental Factors Influencing Adoption of Canadian Guidelines on Smoking Cessation in Dental Healthcare Settings in Quebec: A Qualitative Study of Dentists' Perspectives

Background: This study aimed to understand dentists’ perspective of the environmental determinants which positively or negatively influence the implementation of Canadian smoking cessation clinical practice guidelines (5As: Ask-Advise-Assess-Assist-Arrange) in private dental clinics in Quebec. Methods: This study used a qualitative design and an integrative conceptual framework composed of three theoretical perspectives. Data collection was conducted in individual semi-directed interviews with 20 private dentists lasting between 35 and 45 min. The audio-recorded data were transcribed verbatim, followed by a directed content analysis. Results: Some of the barriers identified to counselling in smoking cessation were lack of time, patient attitude, lack of prescription of nicotine replacement therapies, lack of reimbursement, and the lack of training of the dental team. Enablers cited by participants were the style of dentist’s leadership, the availability of community, human and material resources, the perception of counselling as a professional duty, and the culture of dental medicine. In addition to these variables, dentists’ attitude and behaviour were affected by different organisations giving initial or continual training to dentists, governmental policies, and the compatibility of Canadian smoking cessation guidelines with the practice of dentistry. Conclusion: Our findings will inform the development of smoking cessation interventions in dental healthcare settings.

Evidence-Based Practice Knowledge, Perceptions, and Behavior: A Multi-Institutional, Cross-Sectional Study of a Population of U.S. Dental Students

The aim of this study was to help inform faculty and curriculum leaders in academic dental institutions about the knowledge, skills, perceptions, and behavior of an institutionally diverse population of dental students with respect to evidence-based practice (EBP). A survey utilizing the validated Knowledge, Attitudes, Access, and Confidence Evaluation instrument developed by Hendricson et al. was conducted in 2012 with fourth-year dental students at seven geographically dispersed U.S. dental schools. The survey addressed elements of EBP knowledge, attitudes toward EBP, behavior in accessing evidence, and perceptions of competence in statistical analysis. A total of 138 students from the seven schools participated. A slight majority of these students correctly responded to the knowledge of critical appraisal questions. While the students demonstrated positive attitudes about EBP, they did not report high levels of confidence in their critical appraisal skills. The findings also showed that the students accessed various sources of evidence with differing frequencies. The most frequently accessed resources were colleagues, the Internet (excluding Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews), and textbooks. The results of this study help to identify areas for improvement in EBP education in order to advance dental students' preparation to become evidence-based practitioners.

Evaluating factors associated with implementing evidence-based practice in nursing

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has emerged as an innovation for quality improvement in health care. Nurses have important role in implementing EBP but they face many challenges in this context. Evaluation of factors influencing implementation of EBP seems necessary. The aims of this study were to examine nurses' attitude towards EBP, their self-efficacy and training needs, as well as supporting factors and barriers for implementing EBP.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 182 nurses from four teaching hospitals in Kerman, Iran. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of two main sections; a section to collect socio-demographic information of participants and a section collecting information on five topics (staff's attitude, self-efficacy skills of EBP, supporting factors, barriers and training needs for implementing EBP).

RESULTS

The majority (87.4%) of the nurses had not attended any formal training on EBP and 60% of them were not familiar with the concept of EBP. Nurses' attitude towards EBP was unfavourable (2.57 ± 0.99) and their self-efficacy skills of EBP were poor (2.93 ± 1.06). The most important supporting factor was mentoring by nurses who have adequate EBP experience (3.65 ± 1.17) and the biggest barrier was difficulty judging the quality of research papers and reports (2.46 ± 0.95). There was a moderate demand for training in all areas of EBP (3.62 ± 1.12).

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing care needs to move towards quality improvement using EBP. It is necessary to equip nurses with knowledge and skills required for EBP. Managers should design an appropriate strategic plan by considering supporting factors and barriers for integrating EBP into clinical setting.

Evidence-Based Practice: a survey regarding behavior, knowledge, skills, resources, opinions and perceived barriers of Brazilian physical therapists from São Paulo state

BACKGROUND:

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has been widely used by health professionals. However, no study in Brazil has investigated the data regarding the knowledge and difficulties related to EBP from a representative sample of physical therapists.

OBJECTIVE:

To identify behavior, knowledge, skills, resources, opinions and perceived barriers of Brazilian physical therapists from the state of São Paulo regarding EBP.

METHOD:

A customized questionnaire about behavior, knowledge, skills, resources, opinions and perceived barriers regarding EBP was sent by email to a sample of 490 physical therapists registered by the Registration Board of São Paulo, Brazil. Physical therapists who did not respond to the questionnaire were contacted by telephone and/or letter. The data were analyzed descriptively.

RESULTS:

The final response rate was 64.4% (316/490). Because 60 physical therapists were no longer practicing, 256 answers were analyzed. The physical therapists reported that they routinely read scientific papers (89.5%) as a resource for professional development, followed by continuing education courses (88.3%) and books (86.3%). Approximately 35% of the respondents reported a clear understanding of the implementation of research findings in their practice; approximately 37% reported no difficulties in critically appraising scientific papers; and 67.2% strongly agreed that EBP is important for their practice. The most commonly reported barriers were related to difficulties in obtaining full-text papers (80.1%), using EBP may represent higher cost (80.1%) and the language of publication of the papers (70.3%).

CONCLUSION:

Physical therapists from São Paulo state believe that they have knowledge and skills to use EBP. Although they have favorable opinions regarding its implementation, they still encounter difficulties in implementing EBP successfully.

Nurse leaders' Attitudes, Self-Efficacy and training Needs for Implementing Evidence-Based Practice: Is It Time for a Change toward Safe Care?

Introduction

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been recognized as the gold standard for safe and high quality care. Nurse leaders have a strategic position in terms of initiating changes in clinical settings for successfully implementing EBP. Therefore, the factors that influence implementing EBP must be measured.

Aims

To examine nurse leaders' attitudes, self-efficacy, and training needs for implementing evidence-based practice.

Place and Duration of Study

Four teaching hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences in the southeast of Iran from January to April 2014.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 70 nurse leaders from four teaching hospitals. After using a modified forward/backward translation procedure to create a Persian version of “perceptions of nurses of evidence-based practice questionnaire”, data were collected from the participants and analyzed using SPSS (version 20), descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson's correlation.

Results

Most (82.86%) of the participants had not attended any specific training course on the implementation of EBP and 80% had not been involved in any research activities. Nurse leaders' attitudes toward EBP were unfavorable (mean=2.55±0.88), their levels of self-efficacy in EBP skills were weak (mean=2.64±1.31), and their demand for training in all of the EBP areas was moderate (3.89±.97).

Conclusion

Current practice of nurse leaders is not evidence-based, which is worrisome and can result in serious deficiencies in the quality and safety of nursing care. Nurse leaders must attempt to equip themselves with the attitudes and skills required to change in practice using EBP.

Barriers to evidence-based medicine: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has emerged as an effective strategy to improve health care quality. The aim of this study was to systematically review and carry out an analysis on the barriers to EBM.

METHODS

Different database searching methods and also manual search were employed in this study using the search words ('evidence-based' or 'evidence-based medicine' or 'evidence-based practice' or 'evidence-based guidelines' or 'research utilization') and (barrier* or challenge or hinder) in the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane library, Pro Quest, Magiran, SID.

RESULTS

Out of 2592 articles, 106 articles were finally identified for study. Research barriers, lack of resources, lack of time, inadequate skills, and inadequate access, lack of knowledge and financial barriers were found to be the most common barriers to EBM. Examples of these barriers were found in primary care, hospital/specialist care, rehabilitation care, medical education, management and decision making. The most common barriers to research utilization were research barriers, cooperation barriers and changing barriers. Lack of resources was the most common barrier to implementation of guidelines.

CONCLUSION

The result of this study shows that there are many barriers to the implementation and use of EBM. Identifying barriers is just the first step to removing barriers to the use of EBM. Extra resources will be needed if these barriers are to be tackled.

Vaccination guidelines after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: practitioners' knowledge, attitudes, and gap between guidelines and clinical practice

BACKGROUND

Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) recipients are more susceptible to infections from vaccine-preventable diseases than the general population. Despite the development of international consensus guidelines addressing immunization after HCT, studies have shown that deviations from recommended immunization practices commonly occur.

METHODS

An anonymous survey aimed at determining awareness of the guidelines and attitudes toward vaccination was distributed to our HCT clinicians. In parallel, we retrospectively evaluated patients' characteristics and post-HCT vaccine administration practices from 2010 to 2013.

RESULTS

The majority of survey respondents (96%) were familiar with post-HCT vaccination protocols. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported that influenza vaccines were given to >70% of their patients, and 41% stated that they prescribed live vaccines to eligible patients. However, our pharmacy database review revealed that 38% of patients received the first series of vaccinations by the recommended 6 months post HCT, and 60% received them by 1 year after HCT. Most patients who had their vaccines withheld had relapsed disease or were undergoing treatment for graft-versus-host disease. Furthermore, we identified lower immunization rates in non-English speaking individuals, African-Americans, and Hispanic patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Survey respondents reported being aware of current guidelines; however, adherence to the recommendations varied, likely connected to conflicting data on vaccine effectiveness and a lack of clear recommendations in complex clinical scenarios. Similar to the general population, patient barriers also could have contributed to lower vaccination rates in some cases. To decrease the large gap between the post-HCT vaccination guidelines and clinical practice, further studies on vaccine effectiveness and specific populations are warranted.

Critical thinking in patient centered care

Health care providers can enhance their critical thinking skills, essential to providing patient centered care, by use of motivational interviewing and evidence-based decision making techniques.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The need for critical thinking skills to foster optimal patient centered care is being emphasized in educational curricula for health care professions. The theme of this paper is that evidence-based decision making (EBDM) and motivational interviewing (MI) are tools that when taught in health professions educational programs can aid in the development of critical thinking skills. This paper reviews the MI and EBDM literature for evidence regarding these patient-centered care techniques as they relate to improved oral health outcomes.

METHODS

Comparisons between critical thinking and EBDM skills are presented and the EBDM model and the MI technique are briefly described followed by a discussion of the research to date.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence suggests that EBDM and MI are valuable tools; however, further studies are needed regarding the effectiveness of EBDM and MI and the ways that health care providers can best develop critical thinking skills to facilitate improved patient care outcomes.

Evidence based dental care: integrating clinical expertise with systematic research

Clinical dentistry is becoming increasingly complex and our patients more knowledgeable. Evidence-based care is now regarded as the "gold standard" in health care delivery worldwide. The basis of evidence based dentistry is the published reports of research projects. They are, brought together and analyzed systematically in meta analysis, the source for evidence based decisions. Activities in the field of evidence-based dentistry has increased tremendously in the 21(st) century, more and more practitioners are joining the train, more education on the subject is being provided to elucidate the knotty areas and there is increasing advocacy for the emergence of the field into a specialty discipline. Evidence-Based Dentistry (EBD), if endorsed by the dental profession, including the research community, may well- influence the extent to which society values dental research. Hence, dental researchers should understand the precepts of EBD, and should also recognize the challenges it presents to the research community to strengthen the available evidence and improve the processes of summarizing the evidence and translating it into practice This paper examines the concept of evidence-based dentistry (EBD), including some of the barriers and will discuss about clinical practice guidelines.

The development of a guideline implementability tool (GUIDE-IT): a qualitative study of family physician perspectives

Background

The potential of clinical practice guidelines has not been realized due to inconsistent adoption in clinical practice. Optimising intrinsic characteristics of guidelines (e.g., its wording and format) that are associated with uptake (as perceived by their end users) may have potential. Using findings from a realist review on guideline uptake and consultation with experts in guideline development, we designed a conceptual version of a future tool called Guideline Implementability Tool (GUIDE-IT). The tool will aim to involve family physicians in the guideline development process by providing a process to assess draft guideline recommendations. This feedback will then be given back to developers to consider when finalizing the recommendations. As guideline characteristics are best assessed by end-users, the objectives of the current study were to explore how family physicians perceive guideline implementability, and to determine what components should comprise the final GUIDE-IT prototype.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative study with family physicians inToronto, Ontario. Two experienced investigators conducted one-hour interviews with family physicians using a semi-structured interview guide to 1) elicit feedback on perceptions on guideline implementability; 2) to generate a discussion in response to three draft recommendations; and 3) to provide feedback on the conceptual GUIDE-IT. Sessions were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Data collection and analysis were guided by content analyses.

Results

20 family physicians participated. They perceived guideline uptake according to facilitators and barriers across 6 categories of guideline implementability (format, content, language, usability, development, and the practice environment). Participants’ feedback on 3 draft guideline recommendations were grouped according to guideline perception, cognition, and agreement. When asked to comment on GUIDE-IT, most respondents believed that the tool would be useful, but urged to involve “regular” or community family physicians in the process, and suggested that an online system would be the most efficient way to deliver it.

Conclusions

Our study identified facilitators and barriers of guideline implementability from the perspective of community and academic family physicians that will be used to build our GUIDE-IT prototype. Our findings build on current knowledge by showing that family physicians perceive guideline uptake mostly according to factors that are in the control of guideline developers.

Concordance between clinical practice and published evidence: findings from The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network

BACKGROUND

Documenting the gap between what is occurring in clinical practice and what published research findings suggest should be happening is an important step toward improving care. The authors conducted a study to quantify the concordance between clinical practice and published evidence across preventive, diagnostic and treatment procedures among a sample of dentists in The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network ("the network").

METHODS

Network dentists completed one questionnaire about their demographic characteristics and another about how they treat patients across 12 scenarios/clinical practice behaviors. The authors coded responses to each scenario/clinical practice behavior as consistent ("1") or inconsistent ("0") with published evidence, summed the coded responses and divided the sum by the number of total responses to create an overall concordance score. The overall concordance score was calculated as the mean percentage of responses that were consistent with published evidence.

RESULTS

The authors limited analyses to participants in the United States (N = 591). The study results show a mean concordance at the practitioner level of 62 percent (SD = 18 percent); procedure-specific concordance ranged from 8 to 100 percent. Affiliation with a large group practice, being a female practitioner and having received a dental degree before 1990 were independently associated with high concordance (≥ 75 percent).

CONCLUSION

Dentists reported a medium-range concordance between practice and published evidence.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Efforts to bring research findings into routine practice are needed.

Evaluating acceptance and user experience of a guideline-based clinical decision support system execution platform

This study aims to determine what the initial disposition of physicians towards the use of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) based on Computerised Clinical Guidelines and Protocols (CCGP) is; and whether their prolonged utilisation has a positive effect on their intention to adopt them in the future. For a period of 3 months, 8 volunteer paediatricians monitored each up to 10 asthmatic patients using two CCGPs deployed in the-GuidesMed CDSS. A Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaire was supplied to them before and after using the system. Results from both questionnaires are analysed searching for significant improvements in opinion between them. An additional survey was performed to analyse the usability of the system. It was found that initial disposition of physicians towards e-GuidesMed is good. Improvement between the pre and post iterations of the TAM questionnaire has been found to be statistically significant. Nonetheless, slightly lower values in the Compatibility and Habit variables show that participants perceive possible difficulties to integrate e-GuidesMed into their daily routine. The variable Facilitators shows the highest correlation with the Intention to Use. Usability of the system has also been rated very high and, in this regard, no fundamental flaw has been detected. Initial views towards e-GuidesMed are positive, and become reinforced after continued utilisation of the system. In order to achieve an effective implementation, it becomes essential to facilitate conditions to integrate the system into the physician's daily routine.

How do dentists and their teams incorporate evidence about preventive care? An empirical study

OBJECTIVES

To identify how dentists and their teams adopt evidence-based preventive care.

METHODS

A qualitative study using grounded theory methodology was conducted. We interviewed 23 participants working in eight dental practices about their experience and work processes, while adopting evidence-based preventive care. During the study, Charmaz's grounded theory methodology was employed to examine the social process of adopting preventive dental care in dental practices. Charmaz's iteration of the constant comparative method was used during the data analysis. This involved coding of interview transcripts, detailed memo-writing and drawing diagrams. The transcripts were analyzed as soon as possible after each round of interviews in each dental practice. Coding was conducted primarily by AS, supported by team meetings and discussions when researchers compared their interpretations.

RESULTS

Participants engaged in a slow process of adapting evidence-based protocols and guidelines to the existing logistics of the practices. This process was influenced by practical, philosophical, and historical aspects of dental care, and a range of barriers and facilitators. In particular, dentists spoke spontaneously about two deeply held 'rules' underpinning continued restorative treatment, which acted as barriers to provide preventive care: (i) dentists believed that some patients were too 'unreliable' to benefit from prevention; and (ii) dentists believed that patients thought that only tangible restorative treatment offered 'value for money'. During the adaptation process, some dentists and teams transitioned from their initial state - selling restorative care - through an intermediary stage - learning by doing and educating patients about the importance of preventive care - and finally to a stage where they were offering patients more than just restorative care. Resources were needed for the adaptation process to occur, including: the ability to maintain the financial viability of the practice, appropriate technology, time, and supportive dental team relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings from this study show that with considerable effort, motivation and coordination, it is possible for dental practices to work against the dental 'mainstream' and implement prevention as their clinical norm. This study has shown that dental practice is not purely scientific, but it includes cultural, social, and economic resources that interfere with the provision of preventive care.

Changing practice: implementation of a venous thromboembolism prophylaxis protocol at an academic medical center

BACKGROUND

The Institute of Medicine has identified a "quality chasm" between existing evidence and actual clinical practice. The Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Study has shown that enoxaparin prophylaxis is a safe and effective way of preventing postoperative venous thromboembolism. This article presents a "how-to" guide for implementation of a venous thromboembolism prophylaxis protocol.

METHODS

The Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Study prophylaxis protocol included provision of postoperative, prophylactic dose enoxaparin for the duration of inpatient stay. Compliance was considered at the individual patient level and defined as appropriate provision of protocol-appropriate enoxaparin prophylaxis. Multiple simultaneous interventions to improve protocol compliance were undertaken. Both physician and physician assistant "champions" were identified. Interventions included staff and surgeon educational sessions, discussion of venous thromboembolism-themed articles at journal club, and monthly e-mail reminders specific to the protocol, among others. Compliance rates over time were compared using the chi-square test.

RESULTS

The authors reviewed medical records from 945 consecutive admissions to the plastic surgery service who met Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Study eligibility criteria over a 30-month period. Initial education sessions significantly increased compliance over baseline (55 percent versus 10 percent; p<0.001). After formal protocol adoption, compliance increased steadily over the first 9 months and peaked by 1 year. In the absence of any direct intervention, compliance remained stable at 90 percent for the final 12 months of the study. This was significantly increased when compared with the period of time immediately following protocol adoption (90 percent versus 77 percent; p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

This article provides readers with a practical approach for implementation of a venous thromboembolism prophylaxis protocol at their hospital.

Using natural language processing to enable in-depth analysis of clinical messages posted to an Internet mailing list: a feasibility study

Background

An Internet mailing list may be characterized as a virtual community of practice that serves as an information hub with easy access to expert advice and opportunities for social networking. We are interested in mining messages posted to a list for dental practitioners to identify clinical topics. Once we understand the topical domain, we can study dentists’ real information needs and the nature of their shared expertise, and can avoid delivering useless content at the point of care in future informatics applications. However, a necessary first step involves developing procedures to identify messages that are worth studying given our resources for planned, labor-intensive research.

Objectives

The primary objective of this study was to develop a workflow for finding a manageable number of clinically relevant messages from a much larger corpus of messages posted to an Internet mailing list, and to demonstrate the potential usefulness of our procedures for investigators by retrieving a set of messages tailored to the research question of a qualitative research team.

Methods

We mined 14,576 messages posted to an Internet mailing list from April 2008 to May 2009. The list has about 450 subscribers, mostly dentists from North America interested in clinical practice. After extensive preprocessing, we used the Natural Language Toolkit to identify clinical phrases and keywords in the messages. Two academic dentists classified collocated phrases in an iterative, consensus-based process to describe the topics discussed by dental practitioners who subscribe to the list. We then consulted with qualitative researchers regarding their research question to develop a plan for targeted retrieval. We used selected phrases and keywords as search strings to identify clinically relevant messages and delivered the messages in a reusable database.

Results

About half of the subscribers (245/450, 54.4%) posted messages. Natural language processing (NLP) yielded 279,193 clinically relevant tokens or processed words (19% of all tokens). Of these, 2.02% (5634 unique tokens) represent the vocabulary for dental practitioners. Based on pointwise mutual information score and clinical relevance, 325 collocated phrases (eg, fistula filled obturation and herpes zoster) with 108 keywords (eg, mercury) were classified into 13 broad categories with subcategories. In the demonstration, we identified 305 relevant messages (2.1% of all messages) over 10 selected categories with instances of collocated phrases, and 299 messages (2.1%) with instances of phrases or keywords for the category systemic disease.

Conclusions

A workflow with a sequence of machine-based steps and human classification of NLP-discovered phrases can support researchers who need to identify relevant messages in a much larger corpus. Discovered phrases and keywords are useful search strings to aid targeted retrieval. We demonstrate the potential value of our procedures for qualitative researchers by retrieving a manageable set of messages concerning systemic and oral disease.