Implementation of the German Clinical Practice Guideline for Multimorbidity Using a Digital Tool in Primary Care: Pilot Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.
Digital guideline tool for multimorbidity care was feasible, with high patient compliance.
Implementation of the German Clinical Practice Guideline for Multimorbidity Using a Digital Tool in Primary Care: Pilot Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.
Clinical practice guidelines (clinical practice guidelines) summarize the best available evidence in a specific field.
This study aimed to evaluate whether the implementation of a clinical practice guidelines for multimorbidity using a digital tool is feasible and explore possible effects of this intervention.
Enrolled in any disease management program who were aged ≥65 years and had at least 2 additional chronic conditions were randomly selected from 20 general practitioner (general practitioner) practices and contacted for informed consent.
9 in 10 patients followed the digital tool as intended
Mean age was 75.4 (SD 6.6) years, and 51.7% (62/120) were women.
In our data, the incidence rate of hospital days was comparable in both groups (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.94, 95% CI 0.09-9.42; P=.96), but the odds of hospital admission were almost reduced by half in the intervention group (odds ratio 0.51, 95% CI 0.17-1.54; P=.23).
Our data also suggest a higher incidence rate of general practitioner contacts (IRR 1.13, 95% CI 0.83-1.53; P=.43) and lower incidence rate of contacts with outpatient specialists (IRR 0.79, 95% CI 0.54-1.15; P=.24) in the intervention group compared to usual care.
Implementation of the clinical practice guidelines using a digital tool was feasible.
Our data suggest that the probability of hospital admissions and contacts with outpatient specialists might be reduced and quality of care might be improved.