Override rate of drug-drug interaction alerts in clinical decision support systems: A brief systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Primary studies have demonstrated that despite being useful, most of the drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts generated by clinical decision support systems are overridden by prescribers. To provide more information about this issue, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of DDI alerts generated by CDSS and alert overrides by physicians. The search strategy was implemented by applying the terms and MeSH headings and conducted in the MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, LILACS, and Google Scholar databases. Blinded reviewers screened 1873 records and 86 full studies, and 16 articles were included for analysis. The overall prevalence of alert generated by CDSS was 13% (CI95% 5-24%, p-value <0.0001, I^2 = 100%), and the overall prevalence of alert override by physicians was 90% (CI95% 85-95%, p-value <0.0001, I^2 = 100%). This systematic review and meta-analysis presents a high rate of alert overrides, even after CDSS adjustments that significantly reduced the number of alerts. After analyzing the articles included in this review, it was clear that the CDSS alerts physicians about potential DDI should be developed with a focus on the user experience, thus increasing their confidence and satisfaction, which may increase patient clinical safety.

Keywords: clinical decision support system; computerized physician order entry; drug-drug interactions; medication safety; systematic review; user experience.