EHR-Based Medication Complete Communication Strategy to Promote Safe Opioid Use

EHR-Based Medication Complete Communication Strategy to Promote Safe Opioid Use

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of an electronic health record based strategy in promoting safe use of opioid medications after an Emergency Department (ED) visit. The electronic health record (EHR)-based strategy was designed to enhance provider counseling about opioids and to standardize and simplify the information that patients receive.

Research has shown that patients frequently leave the emergency department without sufficient knowledge about how to safely use their newly prescribed opioid pain relievers. Additionally, educational interventions have the ability to increase patient knowledge about medications. In this study, education interventions will be implemented at the level of the EHR and prompt increased provider counseling with a goal of improving patient knowledge and safe use of opioids after ED discharge.

The investigators will conduct a three-arm provider randomized controlled trial among English-speaking adults prescribed hydrocodone-acetaminophen to evaluate the effectiveness of the EMC2 strategy, with and without Short Message Service (SMS) text reminders, to improve patient understanding and safe use of their medication compared to usual care. This study will be conducted at an urban, academic emergency department (annual volume >85,000 patient visits) in Chicago, Illinois. English speaking patients will be recruited and assessed in person at baseline, and by phone at 2-4 days, 7-14 days, and 1 month after recruitment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• To be eligible to enroll and remain in the study, patient subjects must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Patient age 18 years and older
  2. English language speaking
  3. prescribed pill form of hydrocodone-acetaminophen opioid pain reliever
  4. own a cell phone with text messaging capabilities
  5. the patient is the person primarily responsible for administering medication

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects will be excluded from the study if any of the following conditions are met:

  1. Aged <18
  2. non-English speaking
  3. clinically unstable, psychologically impaired or intoxicated as judged by research staff member or emergency physician
  4. chronic opioid use, defined as daily or near daily use of opioid pain relievers for the past 90 days
  5. admitted to hospital
  6. unable to complete follow up phone interviews
  7. pregnant