title: Incorporating INTERACT II Clinical Decision Support Tools into Nursing Home Health Information Technology.
abstract: A substantial reduction in hospitalization rates has been associated with the implementation of the Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers (INTERACT) quality improvement intervention using the accompanying paper-based clinical practice tools (INTERACT II). There is significant potential to further increase the impact of INTERACT by integrating INTERACT II tools into nursing home (NH) health information technology (HIT) via standalone or integrated clinical decision support (CDS) systems. This article highlights the process of translating INTERACT II tools from paper to NH HIT. The authors believe that widespread dissemination and integration of INTERACT II CDS tools into various NH HIT products could lead to sustainable improvement in resident and clinician process and outcome measures, including enhanced interclinician communication and a reduction in potentially avoidable hospitalizations.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Handler is from the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System; Geriatric Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Gero-informatics Research and Training Program, University of Pittsburgh; and is Medical Director, Long-Term Care Health Information Technology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Senior Communities, Pittsburgh, PA. Ms. Sharkey and Ms. Hudak are from Health Management Strategies Inc., Austin, TX. Dr. Ouslander is from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Handler
authors.forename: Siobhan S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sharkey
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hudak
authors.forename: Joseph G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ouslander