Use of an electronic decision support tool increases adherence to peri-operative ACC/AHA guidelines among anesthesia residents.

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• William R Hand, Kathryn H Bridges, Marjorie P Stiegler, Randall M Schell, Amy N DiLorenzo, Jesse M Ehrenfeld, Paul J Nietert, and Matthew D McEvoy.
• From the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine (W.R.H., K.H.B.) and Department of Public Health Sciences (P.J.N.), Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina; Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (M.P.S.); Department of Anesthesiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky (R.M.S., A.N.D.); Departments of Anesthesiology, Surgery, and Biomedical Informatics (J.M.F.) and Department of Anesthesiology (M.D.M.), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
• Anesthesiology. 2014 Jun 1; 120 (6): 1339-49, quiz 1349-53.

BackgroundThe 2007 American College of Cardiologists/American Heart Association Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiac Evaluation and Care for Noncardiac Surgery is the standard for perioperative cardiac evaluation. Recent work has shown that residents and anesthesiologists do not apply these guidelines when tested. This research hypothesized that a decision support tool would improve adherence to this consensus guideline.MethodsAnesthesiology residents at four training programs participated in an unblinded, prospective, randomized, cross-over trial in which they completed two tests covering clinical scenarios. One quiz was completed from memory and one with the aid of an electronic decision support tool. Performance was evaluated by overall score (% correct), number of incorrect answers with possibly increased cost or risk of care, and the amount of time required to complete the quizzes both with and without the cognitive aid. The primary outcome was the proportion of correct responses attributable to the use of the decision support tool.ResultsAll anesthesiology residents at four institutions were recruited and 111 residents participated. Use of the decision support tool resulted in a 25% improvement in adherence to guidelines compared with memory alone (P < 0.0001), and participants made 77% fewer incorrect responses that would have resulted in increased costs. Use of the tool was associated with a 3.4-min increase in time to complete the test (P < 0.001).ConclusionsUse of an electronic decision support tool significantly improved adherence to the guidelines as compared with memory alone. The decision support tool also prevented inappropriate management steps possibly associated with increased healthcare costs.

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