Allergy alerting and overrides for opioid analogues across two health systems

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40414628/ An AHRQ-funded study in BMJ Health & Care Informatics found that 72 percent of opioid drug allergy alerts were overridden by clinicians. Researchers reviewed 700,493 opioid allergy alerts issued by clinical decision support systems across two major health systems in 2019. Of the overridden alerts, 74 percent involved low- or medium-severity reactions, while 29 percent were linked to true immune-related allergies—the types most likely to cause serious reactions like anaphylaxis. The findings suggest that many alerts may not reflect clinically significant risks. Furthermore, the high number of low-risk alerts may be causing alert fatigue, making it harder for clinicians to recognize and respond to serious warnings. The authors concluded that reclassifying alerts tied to low-risk, non-immune reactions—which represent up to 46 percent of currently interruptive alerts—could reduce unnecessary interruptions and help clinicians focus on truly critical warnings.