Physicians’ responses to computerized drug interaction alerts with password overrides

BACKGROUND: Although evidence has suggested that computerized drug-drug interaction alert systems may reduce the occurrence of drug-drug interactions, the numerous reminders and alerts generated by such systems could represent an excessive burden for clinicians, resulting in a high override rate of not only unimportant, but also important alerts. METHODS: We analyzed physicians' responses to alerts of relative contraindications and contraindications for coadministration in a computerized drug-drug interaction alert system at Hokkaido University Hospital. In this system, the physician must enter a password to override an alert and continue an order. All of the drug-drug interaction alerts generated between December 2011 and November 2012 at Hokkaido University Hospital were included in this study. RESULTS: The system generated a total of 170 alerts of relative contraindications and contraindication for coadministration; 59 (34.7 %) of the corresponding orders were cancelled after the alert was accepted, and 111 (65.3 %) were overridden. The most frequent contraindication alert was for the combination of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors and fibrates. No incidents involving drug-drug interactions were reported among patients who were prescribed contraindicated drug pairs after an override. CONCLUSIONS: Although computerized drug-drug interaction alert systems that require password overrides appear useful for promoting medication safety, having to enter passwords to override alerts may represent an excessive burden for the prescribing physician. Therefore, both patient safety and physicians' workloads should be taken into consideration in future designs of computerized drug-drug interaction alert systems.