Therapeutic duplication of anticoagulants: a retrospective study of frequency and consequences in a tertiary referral hospital

Development and validation of a clinical decision support system to prevent anticoagulant duplications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Unintended duplicate prescriptions of anticoagulants increase the risk of serious adverse events. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) can help prevent such medication errors; however, sophisticated algorithms are needed to avoid alert fatigue. This article describes the steps taken in our hospital to develop a CDSS to prevent anticoagulant duplication (AD).

METHODS

The project was composed of three phases. In phase I, the status quo was established. In phase II, a clinical pharmacist developed an algorithm to detect ADs using daily data exports. In phase III, the algorithm was integrated into the hospital's electronic health record system. Alerts were reviewed by clinical pharmacists before being sent to the prescribing physician. We conducted a retrospective analysis of all three phases to assess the impact of the interventions on the occurrence and duration of ADs. Phase III was analyzed in more detail regarding the acceptance rate, sensitivity, and specificity of the alerts.

RESULTS

We identified 91 ADs in 1581 patients receiving two or more anticoagulants during phase I, 70 ADs in 1692 patients in phase II, and 57 ADs in 1575 patients in phase III. Mean durations of ADs were 1.8, 1.4, and 1.1 calendar days during phases I, II, and III, respectively. In comparison to the baseline in phase I, the relative risk reduction of AD in patients treated with at least two different anticoagulants during phase III was 42% (RR: 0.58, CI: 0.42-0.81). A total of 429 alerts were generated during phase III, many of which were self-limiting, and 186 alerts were sent to the respective prescribing physician. The acceptance rate was high at 97%. We calculated a sensitivity of 87.4% and a specificity of 87.9%.

CONCLUSION

The stepwise development of a CDSS for the detection of AD markedly reduced the frequency and duration of medication errors in our hospital, thereby improving patient safety.

AIDH Summit 2022 - The effect of digitisation on the safe management of anticoagulants

BACKGROUND

Anticoagulants are high-risk medications and are a common cause of adverse events of hospitalised inpatients. The incidence of adverse events involving anticoagulants has remained relatively unchanged over the past two decades, suggesting novel approaches are required to address this persistent issue. Electronic medication management systems (eMMS) offer strategies to help reduce medication incidents and adverse drug events, yet poor system design can introduce new error types.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) on the quality and safety of therapeutic anticoagulation management.

METHODS

A retrospective, observational pre/post study was conducted, analysing real-world data across five hospital sites in a single health service. Four metrics were compared one year pre- and one year post-EMR implementation. They included clinician-reported medication incidents, toxic pathology results, hospital-acquired bleeding complications (HACs) and rate of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Further sub-analyses of patients experiencing HACs in the post-EMR period, identified key opportunities for intervention to maximise safety and quality of anticoagulation within an eMMS.

RESULTS

A significant reduction in HACs was observed in the post-EMR implementation period (mean (SD) =12.1 (4.4)/month, vs. mean (SD) =7.8 (3.5)/month; p=0.01). The categorisation of potential EMR design enhancements found that new automated clinical decision support or improved pathology result integration would be suitable to mitigate future HACs in an eMMS. There was no significant difference in the mean monthly clinician-reported incident rates for anticoagulants or the rate of toxic pathology results in the pre- versus post-EMR implementation period. A 62.5% reduction in the cases of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia were observed in the post-EMR implementation period.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of an EMR improves clinical care outcomes for patients receiving anticoagulation. System design plays a significant role in mitigating the risks associated with anticoagulants and consideration must be given to optimising eMMS.

OpenSAFELY: impact of national guidance on switching anticoagulant therapy during COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) recommended that appropriate patients anticoagulated with warfarin should be switched to direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), requiring less frequent blood testing. Subsequently, a national safety alert was issued regarding patients being inappropriately coprescribed two anticoagulants following a medication change and associated monitoring.

OBJECTIVE

To describe which people were switched from warfarin to DOACs; identify potentially unsafe coprescribing of anticoagulants; and assess whether abnormal clotting results have become more frequent during the pandemic.

METHODS

With the approval of NHS England, we conducted a cohort study using routine clinical data from 24 million NHS patients in England.

RESULTS

20 000 of 164 000 warfarin patients (12.2%) switched to DOACs between March and May 2020, most commonly to edoxaban and apixaban. Factors associated with switching included: older age, recent renal function test, higher number of recent INR tests recorded, atrial fibrillation diagnosis and care home residency. There was a sharp rise in coprescribing of warfarin and DOACs from typically 50-100 per month to 246 in April 2020, 0.06% of all people receiving a DOAC or warfarin. International normalised ratio (INR) testing fell by 14% to 506.8 patients tested per 1000 warfarin patients each month. We observed a very small increase in elevated INRs (n=470) during April compared with January (n=420).

CONCLUSIONS

Increased switching of anticoagulants from warfarin to DOACs was observed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in England following national guidance. There was a small but substantial number of people coprescribed warfarin and DOACs during this period. Despite a national safety alert on the issue, a widespread rise in elevated INR test results was not found. Primary care has responded rapidly to changes in patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.