General practitioner views of an electronic high-risk medicine proforma to facilitate information transfer.
BACKGROUND
The potential of warfarin related harm is increased if clinicians lack the full patient specific information to make informed decisions-an e-proforma has been developed to communicate this information on hospital discharge.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the views of general practitioners (GPs) on a warfarin discharge e-proforma.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey of all GPs (n = 272) within the Raigmore Hospital catchment area of NHS Highland, Scotland.


RESULTS
The response rate was 39.3 % (107/272). 84 (78.5 %) noticed recent changes to information supplied on discharge for warfarin patients. 64 (59.8 %) respondents thought this would result in more informed prescribing with regards to dosing, while 65 (60.7 %) felt this would improve safety. Accurate completion, timely receipt of the e-proforma and a realistic date for subsequent INR tests were considered important by GPs.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests the use of an e-proforma to communicate information about a high-risk medication, warfarin, to GPs on discharge optimises safe, informed prescribing and monitoring in primary care. The development of a discharge e-proforma for other high-risk medication as a patient safety improvement measure should be explored.
Highland Clinical Research Facility, Centre for Health Science, Old Perth Road, Inverness, IV2 3JH, UK, gordon.rushworth@nhs.net.
Gordon F
GF
Rushworth
Lesley
L
Diack
Ian G
IG
Rudd
Derek
D
Stewart
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014859:Warfarin / Q000009:adverse effects*
D014859:Warfarin