Faculty Bibliography

The Enhancing Quality of Prescribing Practices for Older Veterans Discharged From the Emergency Department (EQUiPPED) program aimed to reduce potentially inappropriate medication prescribing to older adults at 5 VAMCs.

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To compare pain relief between patients with intracapsular and extracapsular hip fractures who received an ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block (USFNB). DESIGN/METHODS:A multicenter, prospective, randomized, clinical trial. SETTING/METHODS:The study was conducted in the emergency departments of 3 academic hospitals located in New York City. SUBJECTS/METHODS:Patients aged ≥60 years presenting to the emergency department with hip fracture. METHODS:A subgroup analysis from a larger data set was conducted of patients with intracapsular and extracapsular hip fractures who received an USFNB. We compared pain scores at baseline and then at 2 and 3 hours after the nerve block was performed, and also assessed pain relief at 2 and 3 hours. RESULTS:Seventy-seven patients were randomized to receive USFNB, of which 68 had follow-up data at 2 and 3 hours and were included in the data analysis. Thirty-one were diagnosed with intracapsular and 37 with extracapsular hip fractures. In both groups, reductions in pain scores were clinically and statistically significant. In the intracapsular group, mean pain scores decreased from 6.23 to 3.81 (P < .0001) at 2 hours and from 6.23 to 3.87 (P < .0001) at 3 hours. In the extracapsular group, mean pain scores decreased from 6.62 to 3.89 (P < .0001) at 2 hours and from 6.62 to 3.46 (P < .0001) at 3 hours. These differences were similar between the extracapsular and intracapsular groups at 2 hours (P = .92) and at 3 hours (P = .58), thus demonstrating similar reductions in pain in the 2 groups. The differences in pain relief between the intracapsular and extracapsular groups were also similar: 1.61 (confidence interval [CI], 1.14-2.08) vs 1.35 (CI, 0.96-1.75) at 2 hours (P = .39) and 1.68 (CI, 1.21-2.15) vs 1.38 (CI, 0.89-1.87) at 3 hours (P = .38). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block was equally effective in reducing pain for patients with both intracapsular and extracapsular hip fractures.

BACKGROUND:As the proportion of older adult patients who interface with the health care system grows, clinical pharmacy specialists (CPS) have a pivotal role in reducing potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in this population. OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To (a) describe CPS involvement in the design and implementation of a quality improvement (QI) initiative to decrease PIM prescribing in a Veterans Affairs (VA) emergency department (ED) and (b) report on changes in PIM prescribing before and after the initiative. METHODS:Enhancing Quality of Prescribing Practices for Veterans Discharged from the Emergency Department (EQUiPPED) is an ongoing multisite QI project that aims to decrease ED PIM prescribing. We used a mixed-method approach that applied qualitative and quantitative measures in describing the CPS role and evaluating PIM rates. PIMs were defined using the 2012 Beers Criteria. We reported monthly PIM rates in patients aged 65 years and older who were discharged from the ED from January 2012 to November 2014. A piecewise, nonlinear regression model evaluated the pattern in PIM prescriptions over time. RESULTS:At the Durham, North Carolina, VA Medical Center, a total of 4 CPS were involved with tailoring the design and implementation of the EQUiPPED intervention for local use. CPS input led to 3 key innovations: academic detailing performed by a physician-CPS pair, medication alert messages identifying medications as PIMs in the computerized patient record system, and automated reports describing the frequency and type of PIMs prescribed by each ED provider. Between February 2013 and November 2014, 73 ED providers received the academic detailing. The ED facility experienced a relative reduction of 47.5% in the rate of PIM prescribing over the observation period. CONCLUSIONS:This QI project resulted in a meaningful decrease in PIM prescribing in older ED adults. CPS contributions to QI can extend beyond pharmacotherapy and provider education to also include information technology tools using formulary management expertise.

BACKGROUND:Older adults are at risk for inadequate emergency department (ED) pain care. Unrelieved acute pain is associated with poor outcomes. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) hold promise to improve patient care, but CDSS quality varies widely, particularly when usability evaluation is not employed. OBJECTIVE:To conduct an iterative usability and redesign process of a novel geriatric abdominal pain care CDSS. We hypothesized this process would result in the creation of more usable and favorable pain care interventions. METHODS:Thirteen emergency physicians familiar with the Electronic Health Record (EHR) in use at the study site were recruited. Over a 10-week period, 17 1-hour usability test sessions were conducted across 3 rounds of testing. Participants were given 3 patient scenarios and provided simulated clinical care using the EHR, while interacting with the CDSS interventions. Quantitative System Usability Scores (SUS), favorability scores and qualitative narrative feedback were collected for each session. Using a multi-step review process by an interdisciplinary team, positive and negative usability issues in effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction were considered, prioritized and incorporated in the iterative redesign process of the CDSS. Video analysis was used to determine the appropriateness of the CDS appearances during simulated clinical care. RESULTS:Over the 3 rounds of usability evaluations and subsequent redesign processes, mean SUS progressively improved from 74.8 to 81.2 to 88.9; mean favorability scores improved from 3.23 to 4.29 (1 worst, 5 best). Video analysis revealed that, in the course of the iterative redesign processes, rates of physicians' acknowledgment of CDS interventions increased, however most rates of desired actions by physicians (such as more frequent pain score updates) decreased. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:The iterative usability redesign process was instrumental in improving the usability of the CDSS; if implemented in practice, it could improve geriatric pain care. The usability evaluation process led to improved acknowledgement and favorability. Incorporating usability testing when designing CDSS interventions for studies may be effective to enhance clinician use.

Gait speed assessment is a rapid, simple and objective measure for predicting risk of unfavorable outcomes which may provide better prognostic and reliable information than existing geriatric ED (Emergency Department) screening tools. This descriptive pilot project was designed to determine feasibility of implementing gait speed screening into routine nursing practice by objectively identifying patients with sub-optimal gait speeds. Participants included community-dwelling adults 65 years and older with plans for discharge following ED treatment. Patients with a gait speed <1.0 m/s were identified as "high-risk" for an adverse event, and referred to the ED social worker for individualized resources prior to discharge. Thirty-five patients were screened and nurse initiated gait speed screens were completed 60% of the time. This project demonstrates ED gait speed screening may be feasible. Implications for practice should consider incorporating gait speed screening into routine nursing assessment to improve provider ED decision-making and disposition planning.

BACKGROUND:Previous studies examining sex-based disparities in emergency department (ED) pain care have been limited to a single pain condition, a single study site, and lack rigorous control for confounders. OBJECTIVE:A multicenter evaluation of the effect of sex on abdominal pain (AP) and fracture pain (FP) care outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN/METHODS:A retrospective cohort review of ED visits at 5 US hospitals in January, April, July, and October 2009. SUBJECTS/METHODS:A total of 6931 patients with a final ED diagnosis of FP (n=1682) or AP (n=5249) were included. MEASURES/METHODS:The primary predictor was sex. The primary outcome was time to analgesic administration. Secondary outcomes included time to medication order, and the likelihood of receiving an analgesic and change in pain scores 360 minutes after triage: Multivariable models, clustered by study site, were conducted to adjust for race, age, comorbidities, initial pain score, ED crowding, and triage acuity. RESULTS:On adjusted analyses, compared with men, women with AP waited longer for analgesic administration [AP women: 112 (65-187) minutes, men: 96 (52-167) minutes, P<0.001] and ordering [women: 84 (41-160) minutes, men: 71 (32-137) minutes, P<0.001], whereas women with FP did not (Administration: P=0.360; Order: P=0.133). Compared with men, women with AP were less likely to receive analgesics in the first 90 minutes (OR=0.766; 95% CI, 0.670-0.875; P<0.001), whereas women with FP were not (P=0.357). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS:In this multicenter study, we found that women experienced delays in analgesic administration for AP, but not for FP. Future research and interventions to decrease sex disparities in pain care should take type of pain into account.

In the era of Medicaid Redesign and the Affordable Care Act, the emergency department (ED) presents major opportunities for social workers to assume a leading role in the delivery of care. Through GEDI WISE-Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations in care through Workforce, Informatics and Structural Enhancements,-a unique multidisciplinary partnership made possible by an award from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, social workers in The Mount Sinai ED have successfully contributed to improvements in health outcomes and transitions for older adults receiving emergency care. This article will describe the pivotal and highly valued role of the ED social worker in contributing to the multidisciplinary accomplishments of GEDI WISE objectives in this new model of care.

Suboptimal medication prescribing for older adults has been described in a number of emergency department (ED) studies. Despite this, few studies have examined ED-targeted interventions aimed at reducing the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Enhancing Quality of Prescribing Practices for Older Veterans Discharged from the ED (EQUiPPED) is an ongoing multicomponent, interdisciplinary quality improvement initiative in eight Department of Veterans Affairs EDs. The project aims to decrease the use of PIMs, as identified by the Beers criteria, prescribed to veterans aged 65 and older at the time of ED discharge. Interventions include provider education; informatics-based clinical decision support with electronic medical record-embedded geriatric pharmacy order sets and links to online geriatric content; and individual provider education including academic detailing, audit and feedback, and peer benchmarking. Poisson regression was used to compare the number of PIMs that staff providers prescribed to veterans aged 65 and older discharged from the ED before and after the initiation of the EQUiPPED intervention. Initial data from the first implementation site show that the average monthly proportion of PIMs that staff providers prescribed was 9.4±1.5% before the intervention and 4.6±1.0% after the initiation of EQUiPPED (relative risk=0.48, 95% confidence interval=0.40-0.59, P<.001). Preliminary evaluation demonstrated a significant and sustained reduction of ED-prescribed PIMs in older veterans after implementation of EQUiPPED. Longer follow-up and replication at collaborating sites would allow for an assessment of the effect on health outcomes and costs.

Pain is highly prevalent in health care settings; however, disparities continue to exist in pain care treatment. Few studies have investigated if differences exist based on patient-related characteristics associated with aging. The objective of this study was to determine if there are differences in acute pain care for older vs younger patients. This was a multicenter, retrospective, cross-sectional observation study of 5 emergency departments across the United States evaluating the 2 most commonly presenting pain conditions for older adults, abdominal and fracture pain. Multivariable adjusted hierarchical modeling was completed. A total of 6,948 visits were reviewed. Older (⩾ 65 years) and oldest (⩾ 85 years) were less likely to receive analgesics compared to younger patients (<65 years), yet older patients had greater reductions in final pain scores. When evaluating pain treatment and final pain scores, differences appeared to be based on type of pain. Older patients with abdominal pain were less likely to receive pain medications, while older patients with fracture were more likely to receive analgesics and opioids compared to younger patients. Differences in pain care for older patients appear to be driven by the type of presenting pain.