General Practitioners' needs and wishes for clinical decision support Systems: A focus group study

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Clinical Informatics
• General Practice

Background:

• Shared decision making (SDM) is valuable but underutilized in clinical practice.
• Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) can facilitate SDM but face low acceptance rates.
• Older patients' medication-related fall risk is a key area where SDM between general practitioners (GPs) and patients is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate GPs' needs and preferences for a CDSS.
• To focus the CDSS on reducing medication-related fall risk in older adults.
• To inform the user-centered design of a CDSS to improve acceptance and utility.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of GPs through the Amsterdam Academic Network of General Practice.
• Preparation via a web-lecture followed by three online focus groups with 13 GPs.
• Focus group recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Atlas.ti.

Main Results:

• GPs emphasized the importance of seamless integration into their workflow, including patient risk selection.
• A strong preference for visual risk presentation using a gradient scale (green to red) was identified.
• GPs desired both medication-related and non-medication-related advice, available upon request.

Conclusions:

• The study provides critical insights into GP requirements for a fall prevention CDSS.
• Findings will guide the development of a CDSS prototype for usability testing.
• The results can inform the broader development of medication-related CDSSs.