CLINICAL NEWS
Can Electronic Alerts Improve VTE
Prophylaxis Delivery?
The use of thromboprophylaxis among
hospitalized patients at risk for a
venous thromboembolism (VTE) – a
major complication of hospitalization
– remains inconsistent. Both overuse
and underuse of VTE prophylaxis are
common. In a report published in the
Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis,
David Spirk, MD, from the Institute of
Pharmacology at the University of Bern
in Switzerland, and co-authors explored
whether inserting an electronic alert
(e-alert) in the order entry system
reminding physicians to calculate
patients’ VTE risk could increase the
rates of appropriate VTE prophylaxis.
Rates of appropriate prophylaxis in
this open-label, randomized, controlled
trial were higher than the researchers ex-
pected, but this was not attributable to the
e-alert system. Many of the e-alerts were
ignored by ordering physicians – hinting
at the “alert fatigue” many physicians feel
toward the overwhelming number of re-
minders and notifications associated with
electronic medical record software.