Table 3 Summary of what participants want in a prescribing and communication tool
Doctors and patients want | |
• A trustworthy, endorsed tool • A user-friendly tool that is intuitive • The capacity to use on different platforms (mobile, desktop) | |
Doctors want | |
• A tool embedded within the patient management system • A tool that is fast • The capacity to turn on/turn off/ignore tool or parts of the tool • A simplified interactions checker (so prescriber doesn’t need to check each medication individually) • A tool targeted to reduce polypharmacy • Age and renal function integrated into any calculations • Children’s weight integrated into prescribing calculations (and printed on label) • Pregnancy or pregnancy risk factored into recommendations • Ethnicity (and earlier onset of disease) factored into risk weightings • A simple risk severity grading system (e.g. traffic light system) • Other risk assessment tools integrated within the one tool (e.g. CHA2DS2-VASc) • Patient access to empower shared decision-making • Streamlined monitoring for medications • An audit function to the tool • Alerts which are highly clinically relevant • Alternative medication suggestions (e.g. current first line agents based on updated prescribing or antimicrobial guidelines) | |
Patients want | |
• Access to the tool independent of their doctor • A tool that is culturally sensitive (and perhaps the potential to change language) • Something that is free to use and will help them understand their medications • “Just right” amount of information: not too much nor too little • Risk information presented simply (e.g. traffic light system) |