Capturing the Use of Dietary Supplements in Electronic Medical Records: Room for Improvement

Of importance to federal agencies that administer health care facilities is capturing patient use of dietary supplements (DS) to avoid potential drug - supplement interactions. Digital technologies, such as use of the electronic medical record and the electronic health record (EHR) are key to monitoring health care. The particular electronic software package and the health care professional using this software influences how this documentation is recorded. A survey was conducted to determine how information on DS is being collected, recorded, and processed in EHR across federal agencies. Four federal agencies providing direct health care services to large numbers of men and women in the US were surveyed on current practices regarding the recording and processing of information on DS use either on outpatient or inpatient basis. A point of contact for each of the following federal agencies was identified, and a 13-question survey was sent to each for completion: NIH Clinical Center, Department of Defense (DoD) Military Nutrition Committee, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Specialty Care Services, and the Indian Health Service (IHS), Office of Information Technology. All four agency representatives completed the survey. No agency used the same EHR software reporting system. Most EHR have searchable fields that are in a structured format, but some information is free text and allowed entry by multiple members of the health-care team. Three different medication formulary or drug knowledge databases were utilized across the agencies. Most agencies using EHR management systems have adequately described procedures for entering and charting information on DS. The responsibility for charting, however, varies across agencies whether captured by the admitting doctor, nurse, dietitian, or pharmacist. Direct linkage between the pharmacy system and the drug knowledge database is a feature of the EHR for several but not all federal agencies. An unmet need still exists in the EHR to implement DS/drug interaction checks as many DS products have multiple active ingredients and when taken with other DS or prescription drugs increase the likelihood of an adverse event. Establishing common EHR practices could facilitate monitoring the use and potential interactions of DS with prescribed drugs.