Enhancing Population-Based Clinical Practice through Data Visualization & Decision Support

Introduction: We have developed an application -- GermWatch -- to provide health care providers in Utah with timely, population-based data (PBD) about routinely-tested pathogens and disease outbreaks. GermWatch has been enthusiastically received by providers, but it is unclear whether providers find population-based data about respiratory pathogens useful in their clinical practice.

Objectives: 1) Describe the evolution and current architecture of GermWatch. 2) Describe the current utilization and acceptance of GermWatch and other sources of PBD available to providers in Utah.

Methods:  Descriptive, cross-sectional survey of urgent care providers in Utah.

Results: 63 of 105 (60%) responded. Utilization: Providers use multiple sources of population-based data, including: CDC web site (86%), MMWR (63%), GermWatch web site (43%), GermWatch listserv (65%), state health department web site (30%) or listserv (32%).  The primary reason for not accessing was lack of awareness.  During the 2006-2007 respiratory season, 78% of providers accessed ≥1 source monthly and 40% accessed ≥1 source weekly.  Acceptance:  >90% of providers agreed that they would find PBD: 1) useful in clinical practice, 2) useful for describing “what’s going around” to patients, 3) describing treatment decisions and 4) improving diagnostic accuracy. Providers agreed that PBD would be useful for deciding whether to order viral or Pertussis testing (79%) and whether to prescribe antivirals (71%) or antibiotics (67%).  67% agreed that patients and colleagues expected them to know about PBD.  Some agreed that accessing existing sources of PBD was easy (63%), took too long (53%) and took too much time away from seeing patients (44%). 

Conclusions:  Providers in Utah use multiple sources of PBD and use them frequently. Providers believe PBD can impact clinical performance, improve communication with patients and that colleagues and patients expect them to know about it. An integrated system that interprets PBD from multiple sources may enhance population-based clinical practice.