Grant: Project Grant

When new evidence emerges of harmful effects of medicines, Health Canada often issues safety advisories to warn clinicians and the public, and to support safer use. However, impacts on prescribing are limited and rarely evaluated. The aim of this study is to develop, implement, and evaluate a knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) intervention to guide safer prescribing. The "Advisory Portrait" intervention will combine personalized prescribing feedback to clinicians (portraits) with drug safety warnings from Health Canada (advisories). We will also investigate the feasibility of assisting clinicians to follow up with at-risk patients using EMRs. The intervention will be co-designed with panels of clinicians and patients, tailoring safety messages and linking them to clinicians' own prescribing to improve knowledge and uptake of safety information into clinical care decisions. This mixed methods study will use population-based prescribing data to assess the implementation and impact of Advisory Portraits on prescribing. Post-intervention focus groups with participating clinicians and patients will help us identify facilitators and barriers to the uptake of advisories and to understand strengths and weaknesses in the knowledge exchange process. This knowledge will inform subsequent content, formats, and messages. Our study aims to advance knowledge translation science in the domain of drug risk communications. Personalized data combined with safety advisory information from Health Canada, if it leads to safer and more appropriate prescribing, could contribute to better patient health and more effective and efficient healthcare services.