Randomized controlled trial of a clinical decision support system for painful polyneuropathy

Despite the existence of guidelines, painful neuropathy is often inappropriately treated. We sought to determine the effectiveness of a clinical decision support system on guideline-recommended medication use.

We randomized neurology providers, stratified by subspecialty, to a best practice alert (BPA) linked to a Smartset or a BPA alone when seeing patients with neuropathy. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with uncontrolled nerve pain prescribed a guideline-recommended medication. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess effectiveness.

Seventy-five neurology providers (intervention 38, control 37) treated 2697 patients with neuropathy (intervention 1026, control 671). Providers did not acknowledge the BPA in 1928 (71.5%) visits. Only four of eight intervention arm neurologists who treated patients with uncontrolled nerve pain opened the Smartset. The intervention was not associated with guideline-recommended medication use (odds ratio 0.52, 0.18-1.48; intervention 52%, control 54.8%).

Our intervention did not improve prescribing practices for painful neuropathy. Physicians typically ignored the BPAs/Smartset; therefore, future studies should mandate their use or employ alternate strategies.