Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Using An Electronic Reminder To Improve Physician Practices At Yale-New Haven Hospital, Alicia Inés Arbaje

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The inappropriate use of diphenhydramine (Benadryl™) can lead to iatrogenic complications, such as cognitive decline. Electronic reminders can be effective in implementing clinical guidelines, providing decision support to clinicians, and reducing medical errors. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an electronic reminder screen on physicians' routine use of diphenhydramine as a pretreatment prior to blood transfusions, and to assess their attitudes regarding this reminder. The researchers reviewed diphenhydramine use in adult inpatients before, immediately after, and one year after implementation of the reminder screen. A total of 752 transfusion episodes (467 patients) were reviewed, with …