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Decision-support tools increased asthma guideline adherence
Health care provider adherence to asthma guidelines can be improved through decision-support tools, feedback and audit, and clinical pharmacy support, according to recent study findings published in Pediatrics.
“One of the shortcomings of asthma guidelines is the limited extent to which health care providers are provided with tools to follow the recommended care,” according to background information. “There have been provider-targeted interventions, but most interventions have been patient-focused. There is no consensus on the most effective provider-targeted interventions to improve adherence to guidelines.”
The study included data from 68 previous studies using decision support, organizational change, feedback and audit, clinical pharmacy support, education only, quality improvement/pay-for-performance, multi-component, and information only.
Researchers found that decision support, feedback and audit, and clinical pharmacy support led to moderate evidence for increased controller medication prescriptions. Decision support and clinical pharmacy also increased the provision of patient self-education/asthma action plans.
“We found more information about the effect of interventions on health care process outcomes than for clinical outcomes,” researchers wrote. “There is low to moderate evidence to support the use of decision support, feedback and audit, and clinical pharmacy support to improve the adherence of health care providers to asthma guidelines and to improve clinical outcomes. There is a need to further evaluate health care provider-targeted interventions with a focus on standardized measures of outcomes and more rigorous study designs.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
