A study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, examined an EMR alert system's effectiveness in promoting the intra-hospital referral of patients with hepatitis B surface antigen antibody or anti-hepatitis C virus antibody positivity to hepatologists.
A Japan-based community hospital developed an alert system for its EMRs, referred to as "sticky notes." The "sticky note" was a comment left in the EMRs of any hospital patient with positive hepatitis B surface antigen or anti-hepatitis C antibodies who had not been referred to a hepatologist. Researchers studied the number of referrals to hepatologists before and after the system's introduction.
Here are four insights:
1. The proportions of patients with the hepatitis antibody positivity did not show statistically significant differences before the system was introduced and after.
2. However, these patients' referral proportions were significantly higher after the implementation of the sticky notes system.
3. Before the system was implemented, 28 percent of hepatitis B surface antigen antibody positivity patients were referred to a hepatologist, whereas after the implementation, 73 percent were referred.
4. Seventeen percent of anti-hepatitis C antibody positivity patients were referred to a hepatologist before the system was introduced, as compared to 65 percent after.
"Our simple electronic medical record-based alert system effectively promoted intra-hospital referral of hepatitis virus-positive patients, who have been detected by screening tests, to hepatologists," study authors concluded.