• Ava E Cascone, Jessica Sullivan, Kimberly Ackerbauer, Shyam Patel, Danielle Kebadjian Lindale, Hayley Tatro, and Megan E Feeney.
• Department of Pharmacy, Boston Medical Center, Mass. Electronic address: ava.cascone@bmc.org.
• Am. J. Med. 2023 Feb 1; 136 (2): 186192186-192.

ObjectivesStress ulcer prophylaxis initiated for intensive care unit (ICU)-specific indications is often continued upon transfer or discharge despite lack of indication. This quality improvement initiative aimed to achieve a 25% reduction from baseline in ICU-initiated acid suppression therapy prescriptions by May 2021.MethodsThis initiative was conducted in adult ICU patients at Boston Medical Center from July 2020 through May 2021. A multidisciplinary approach to de-prescribing was utilized, including the implementation of formalized stress ulcer prophylaxis criteria and an electronic handoff tool used to identify patients appropriate for assessment of acid suppression therapy continuation post-ICU stay. The primary outcome measure was the number of discharge prescriptions for ICU-initiated acid suppression therapy. Secondary endpoints included incidence of de-prescribing workflow failures, percentage of acid suppression therapy discharge prescriptions with inappropriate indications, and incidence of stress ulcer-related gastrointestinal bleeding.ResultsA 55% decrease in ICU-initiated acid suppression therapy discharge prescriptions occurred after implementing the multidisciplinary workflow. The decrease was sustained for 28 weeks through the completion of the study.ConclusionsImplementation of a pharmacist-initiated electronic handoff tool along with provider education and creation of formalized stress ulcer prophylaxis criteria may reduce the number of ICU-initiated acid suppression therapy prescriptions inadvertently or inappropriately continued at discharge.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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