Alerts for community pharmacist-provided medication therapy management: recommendations from a heuristic evaluation

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Informatics
• Pharmaceutical Sciences

Background:

• Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services, often provided by pharmacists, aim to resolve medication therapy problems (MTPs) and improve patient care.
• MTM documentation and alert systems are typically managed through vendor web-based platforms used by community pharmacists.
• Effective MTM alert design requires adherence to human factors principles to maximize usability and usefulness for pharmacists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate community pharmacist-delivered MTM alerts against established human factors principles.
• To identify specific areas for improvement and provide recommendations for MTM alert design.

Main Methods:

• A heuristic evaluation of five MTM alert categories (indication, effectiveness, safety, adherence, cost-containment) was conducted.
• The evaluation utilized an adapted Instrument for Evaluating Human-Factors Principles in Medication-Related Decision Support Alerts (I-MeDeSA) with 32 heuristics.
• Four analysts provided ratings, and mean scores were computed for each heuristic across all alert categories.

Main Results:

• Alert categories showed similar performance across evaluated heuristics.
• Heuristics related to visibility and color were generally well-aligned in the MTM alerts.
• Key areas for improvement included alert prioritization, text-based information clarity, alarm philosophy, and corrective action guidance.

Conclusions:

• MTM alerts present opportunities for enhancement through the application of human factors principles.
• Recommendations for improved MTM alert design can increase pharmacist effectiveness in MTM delivery.
• Optimized MTM alert design has the potential to lead to better patient outcomes.