Bridging knowledge gaps

In the UK, one in four adults has two or more medical conditions, and one in three adults in hospital has five or more conditions. In the US, 42% of people are dealing with two or more multiple chronic conditions, and 12% have at least five.

These conditions lead to poorer functional status, reduced quality of life, and increased use of healthcare resources.

Treat the whole patient

To tackle the complexities of multimorbidity, BMJ Best Practice launched its integrated Comorbidities Manager in 2022. The tool prompts health professionals to consider the patient’s comorbidities when accessing treatment information and produces an initial management plan tailored to the patient’s unique needs.

Credible evidence demonstrates both the importance of taking comorbidities into account when managing patients and the role that the BMJ Comorbidities Manager can play in this regard. Treating patients’ acute presentation alongside existing conditions enables hospitals to increase the quality and efficiency of care. It leads to better clinical outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and fewer readmissions.

A 2024 pilot study evaluating the usefulness of BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities Manager by using a semistructured online questionnaire in a cohort of recently qualified junior hospital doctors revealed that:

• 85% of participants obtained useful information from the resource
• 95% of participants considered that they could apply this information to provide evidence based treatment

This evaluation suggests that the BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities Manager has the potential to enhance the preparedness of junior doctors by providing useful information at the point of care. Such findings emphasise the tangible difference that innovative digital point of care information systems can make in enhancing
clinical preparedness and decision making, fostering a healthcare environment where both patients and providers benefit from timely, reliable information.