Strategies for improving documentation and reducing medication errors related to drug allergy

Analysis of a Near Peer Tutoring Program to Improve Medical Students' Note Writing Skills

Problem: The ability to document a patient encounter is integral for any physician. Previous studies indicate that medical students' note writing skills are poor due to a lack of formal clinical documentation instruction. Barriers to formally teaching students how to write patient notes include the significant time burden and variability in faculty feedback. Implementing a near-peer teaching program to teach students how to write a patient note can overcome these barriers and fill this curricular gap. Intervention: Fourth year medical students who completed a Teaching in Medicine elective course were trained to provide individual feedback to 1^st and 2^nd year students on note writing as a part of their Introduction to Clinical Medicine course. In order to determine the effect of this two year, near-peer feedback program on note writing skills, we analyzed students' scores on the note writing portion of two Objective Structured Clinical Exams that took place at the end of the 2^nd and 3^rd years of medical school. Context: The near-peer feedback sessions were implemented in the Fall of 2013 during the preclinical years of the medical school curriculum. Data from students who received near-peer feedback (N = 112) were compared to a historical control group who did not receive near-peer feedback on their note writing (N = 110). Objective Structured Clinical Exam scores that were specific to note writing skills, including the history, physical exam, and differential diagnosis subscales were examined. Impact: The near-peer feedback had a positive impact on the quality of patient notes. On the end of the 2^nd year Objective Structured Clinical Exam, the near-peer feedback intervention group outperformed the no feedback group on the history and physical exam subscale scores but not on the differential diagnosis subscale score. One year later, the near-peer feedback intervention group continued to outperform the no feedback group on the physical exam subscale score, but not the history or the differential diagnosis subscale scores. Lessons Learned: Near-peer teaching improves student documentation of the history and physical exam, however only the effects on the physical exam portion persist into the clinical years of training. Writing up a differential diagnosis is a skill that develops through the clerkship experience regardless of exposure to feedback in the preclinical years. Implementing near-peer teaching in the medical school setting is feasible and can provide students with valuable learning experiences without relying on clinical faculty.

An Action Design Research to Facilitate the Adoption of Personal Health Records

Adoption and user perceptions are dominant on personal health records literature and have led to a better understanding of what individuals' behaviors and perceptions are about the adoption of personal health records. However, these insights are descriptive and are not actionable to allow creating personal health records that will overcome the adoption problems identified by users. This study uses action design research to provide actionable knowledge regarding user perceptions and adoption and their application in the case of the digital allergy card. To achieve this, we conducted interviews with patients and physicians as part of the evaluation of the digital allergy card mock-up and the first prototype. As results, we provided some research proposals regarding the benefits of, levers for, and barriers to adoption of the digital allergy card that can be tested for several other personal health records.

Drug allergy passport and other documentation for patients with drug hypersensitivity - An ENDA/EAACI Drug Allergy Interest Group Position Paper

The strongest and best-documented risk factor for drug hypersensitivity (DH) is the history of a previous reaction. Accidental exposures to drugs may lead to severe or even fatal reactions in sensitized patients. Preventable prescription errors are common. They are often due to inadequate medical history or poor risk assessment of recurrence of drug reaction. Proper documentation is essential information for the doctor to make sound therapeutic decision. The European Network on Drug Allergy and Drug Allergy Interest Group of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology have formed a task force and developed a drug allergy passport as well as general guidelines of drug allergy documentation. A drug allergy passport, a drug allergy alert card, a certificate, and a discharge letter after medical evaluation are adequate means to document DH in a patient. They are to be handed to the patient who is advised to carry the documentation at all times especially when away from home. A drug allergy passport should at least contain information on the culprit drug(s) including international nonproprietary name, clinical manifestations including severity, diagnostic measures, potential cross-reactivity, alternative drugs to prescribe, and where more detailed information can be obtained from the issuer. It should be given to patients only after full allergy workup. In the future, electronic prescription systems with alert functions will become more common and should include the same information as in paper-based documentation.