Results of implementation of integrated electronic health record contrast allergy decision support

Best practice alerts (BPAs), providing evidence-based decision support, are associated with behavioral/practice changes that benefit patients. Electronic health records (EHRs) facilitate communication to ordering physicians of patient-specific data relevant to BPAs. We theorized that alerts, documenting a history of contrast allergy, would result in increased frequency of prophylactic anti-allergy medication administration without radiology intervention. A 47% increase in anti-allergy medication orders, by non-radiologists without radiologist prompting, was observed during the study period which was correlated with improved patient satisfaction and throughput. An unexplained decline in the rate of contrast examinations warrants further investigation.