Education of Providers on Prescribing Best Practices

As part of a medical center educational initiative at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), two educational modules will be sent to prescribing providers through either email or short message service (SMS) text messaging. The first educational module consists of a set of multiple choice questions concerning best practices for prescribing intravenous fluids in the inpatient and perioperative setting. This module is based upon recent literature and specifically derived from the results of the Isotonic Solutions and Major Adverse Renal Events Trial (SMART) and Saline Against Lactated Ringer's or Plasma-Lyte in the Emergency Department (SALT-ED) trial, both published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018 and led by Vanderbilt investigators. Similarly, a second educational module concerning evidence-based pain management and opioid prescribing practices will be distributed via email or SMS text messaging. Participants will receive one question per day. If the participant does not answer the question correctly, they will receive the opportunity to attempt the question again after reviewing evidence-based education. All questions have been curated and reviewed by a panel of experts and piloted within VUMC for feasibility and acceptability. Key concepts are repeated in each module and questions are strategically ordered throughout each module to accomplish spaced education.