Using visual prompts to aid analgesia prescribing

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Pain Management

Background:

• Analgesia prescribing is crucial for patient outcomes and experience.
• Doctors express high confidence in analgesia prescribing but struggle with opioid conversions.
• A significant gap exists between perceived and actual concurrent laxative prescribing with opioids.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of visual prompts on opioid conversion accuracy.
• To evaluate the effect of educational interventions on concurrent laxative prescribing.
• To bridge the gap between doctors' self-reported confidence and actual prescribing practices.

Main Methods:

• Baseline survey on prescribing habits and opioid conversion accuracy.
• Distribution of laminated pain management guideline cards and posters.
• Post-intervention interviews and electronic prescribing record analysis.
• Comparison of pre- and post-intervention prescribing rates.

Main Results:

• Laminated prompts increased opioid conversion accuracy by 86%, reducing errors to 0% with 100% prevalence.
• Concurrent laxative prescribing increased from 14% to 50% after poster implementation.
• Doctors' self-reported confidence did not correlate with actual prescribing behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Visual prompts are effective tools for improving analgesic conversion knowledge and prescribing practices.
• Educational interventions, including laminated cards and posters, can enhance medication safety.
• Standardizing prescribing practices through accessible prompts is vital for patient care.