Development and implementation of a new referral process and dot phrase technology for a rural medication therapy management program to improve patient safety

Abstract

No medication or procedure will cure dementia, and most patients will experience behavioral and psychiatric symptoms as the disease progresses. Medications to treat the symptoms of dementia are complex. Medication therapy management is a patient-centered collaborative agreement between provider and pharmacist that has shown positive outcomes in reducing adverse drug reactions. In January 2021, an outpatient clinic in Southwest Montana implemented the Rural Access to a Psychiatric Pharmacist for Seniors (RAPPS), an MTM pilot program to address the complex medication-related problems of elderly dementia. During the RAPPS process, an internal review identified two major concerns: (1) clinical information being communicated from provider to pharmacist needs to be more consistent and (2) the current system lacks a clearly defined referral process. This ongoing process improvement project used four Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to develop, implement, and evaluate the dot phrase. A dot phrase is a section of text to be inserted into an electronic health record progress note. The dot phrase's utilization was analyzed at three different timepoints over the project's 6-week implantation period. A five-question visual analog scale provider-satisfaction survey was developed to be conducted at the fourth PDSA cycle. Preliminary data collected from the electronic health record from November 2022 to December 2022 found that 45% of providers' notes at the time of referral did not document a psychiatric diagnosis, and 81% of the notes did not confirm or deny outside psychiatric management. The primary, secondary, and tertiary SMART goals were not met. The QI project encountered many unforeseen problems throughout this study. The preliminary data collected in this project demonstrated that documentation deficits are occurring between providers and the clinical pharmacist. As more and more of our medical information becomes digital, health professionals will require additional training to become proficient in using these systems. IT systems are complex and challenging, so future quality improvement projects should have a dedicated IT specialist on their team. For collaborative agreement programs to succeed, clear communication between all stakeholders must be championed. Future research should examine technologies that encourage interprofessional communication within electronic referral systems.