Medication shortage behaviour change with multidisciplinary clinician-designed digital notification intervention

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Health Systems Management

Background:

• Medication shortages pose significant challenges to patient care.
• Intravenous paracetamol is a commonly used analgesic and antipyretic agent.
• Effective strategies are needed to manage drug scarcity and optimize medication use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a clinician-designed digital notification system on intravenous paracetamol utilization.
• To evaluate the system's effectiveness during a period of medication shortage.

Main Methods:

• Development of an in-house digital notification platform through multidisciplinary collaboration.
• Implementation of a 4-week pre- and post-intervention study design.
• Comparative analysis of intravenous paracetamol usage before and after system implementation.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant decrease in daily intravenous paracetamol doses was observed post-implementation (median 80 doses) compared to the pre-implementation period (median 94 doses).
• The intervention demonstrated a clear reduction in the utilization of intravenous paracetamol during the shortage.
• P < .001 indicated a highly significant difference in usage patterns.

Conclusions:

• Clinician-designed digital notification platforms can be valuable tools for managing medication shortages.
• This technology may help optimize the use of critical medications during supply chain disruptions.
• Multidisciplinary collaboration in system design enhances its practical applicability in clinical settings.