BTF thyroid and pregnancy information prescription now available in EMIS

We are pleased to announce the launch of the EMIS 'BTF Thyroid disorders and pregnancy' information prescription for women of reproductive age who are on thyroid hormone treatment for primary hypothyroidism.

Information prescriptions are personalised pieces of information which are easy to read and have individual goals to help prevent a particular health complication. The ‘BTF Thyroid disorders and pregnancy' information prescription tools were originally developed by Dr Anh Tran, a GP based in Surrey, in 2018 and have now been adopted by EMIS Health. These tools were inspired by and based on the same principles as the popular diabetes information prescriptions pioneered by Diabetes UK and can be found, and activated in the same way, in the same 'Third Sector Partnership' folder in the EMIS library (in Template Manager or Resource Publisher).

The tools consist of two protocols, a template and a leaflet (information prescription). They give clinicians the option to quickly offer a BTF Pregnancy and Thyroid Disorders leaflet to patients who are female, of reproductive age and who are on thyroid hormone treatment for primary hypothyroidism. The information helps patients to understand the need to have optimal thyroid function on the conception and throughout pregnancy, and also helps clinicians to improve their management and monitoring of women with hypothyroidism who are pregnant or trying to conceive.

Our Pregnancy and thyroid disorders guidance, which will include the patient's latest thyroid function results, can be printed out and given to the patient when patients are diagnosed and started on hormone replacement for hypothyroidism when prescriptions for thyroid hormones are reissued and opportunistically during other routine consultations. An electronic version can be saved in the patient’s care record and re-printed if required. There is also a template for reviewing the patient's latest thyroid function, with links to the relevant guidelines.

Patients are automatically excluded from being offered the leaflet by the alert protocol if they are coded as:

• menopausal

• have had a hysterectomy

• have been sterilised

• have panhypopituitarism or TSH deficiency (secondary hypothyroidism) 

How to activate and use the EMIS information prescription tools for thyroid disorders and pregnancy

The ‘BTF Thyroid disorders and pregnancy' information prescription (IP) tools need to be activated by an administrator (e.g. the Practice Manager) before the alerts will become active. To activate the tools, go to the 'Third Sector Partnership' folder in the EMIS library in Template Manager or Resource Publisher and follow the three simple steps indicated. Note this step only needs to be done once.

How to use the ‘BTF Thyroid disorders and pregnancy' IP tools

BTF Pregnancy and Thyroid Disorders guidance for patients

Diabetes UK information prescriptions

Further reading

Gov.uk Drug safety update February 2019: Carbimazole: increased risk of congenital malformations; strengthened advice on contraception

Thyroid hormone replacement in the preconception period and pregnancy
BJGP, June 2019 https://bjgp.org/content/69/683/282.full

Thyroid hormone replacement: applying the Goldilocks principle, Prescriber, December 2018 https://www.prescriber.co.uk/article/thyroid-hormone-replacement-applying-the-goldilocks-principle/

Caring for Women with thyroid disorders in pregnancy, British Journal of Midwifery, July 2018 https://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2018.26.7.434

American Thyroid Association Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Thyroid Disease during Pregnancy and the Postpartum 2017 

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