Use of the Online Portal "Embryotox" in Routine Health Care: Mixed Methods Study

Since 2008, the open-access internet portal "Embryotox" has provided evidence-based information on drug safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The German website, designed for health care professionals, comprises fact sheets about 400 drugs and is maintained by the Embryotox Center of Clinical Teratology and Drug Safety in Pregnancy at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In 2024, it was accessed more than 5 million times.

This study aimed to evaluate who is using the website, how it is being used, and to what extent it meets users' needs.

Data were collected between 2022 and 2023 through a sequential mixed methods design incorporating explanatory and exploratory elements. Online questionnaire 1 contained questions on user characteristics, clinical specifics of use, comprehensibility, and changes in risk assessment or drug therapy following fact sheet use. Qualitative data were generated through semistructured phone interviews, with interviewees sampled from the main user groups identified in questionnaire 1 (patients, physicians, pharmacists, and midwives). Kuckartz's content analysis was used to analyze data on users' trust and the functions of website use for different stakeholder groups. Online questionnaire 2 collected data from the main user groups on their decision-making based on Embryotox fact sheets. This questionnaire was developed based on the findings from semistructured interviews on the functions of website use. Answers in both questionnaires included multiple-choice options or ratings on a Likert scale from 0 (not at all) to 10 (fully); data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Questionnaire 1 was completed by 14,562 users, including 10,860 patients, 1676 physicians, 550 pharmacists, and 364 midwives. Of the physicians, 27.2% (456/1676) were obstetricians and gynecologists, and 22.7% (381/1676) were general practitioners. For physicians, the mean of comprehensibility ratings was 9.39 (pharmacists 9.25; midwives 9.14), and for patients 8.80. Following fact sheet use, 66.6% (9694/14,562) of all users changed their risk perception, and 22.3% (2252/10,083) of users in a specific treatment setting considered changing drug treatment. Qualitative content analysis revealed that users highly trusted the information in the fact sheets for a number of reasons, including recommendations from other users, the scientific basis of the website, and the authority of the Embryotox Center as a university-based specialist department for drug safety in pregnancy and lactation. Functions of fact sheet use differed depending on the stakeholder group. A total of 793 users, mostly physicians and patients, fully completed questionnaire 2, specifying typical clinical situations and benefits of fact sheet use for shared decision-making. Benefits included facilitating the decision-making process and increasing confidence in it.

The information provided in the Embryotox fact sheets was generally perceived as both comprehensible and trustworthy, supporting and facilitating the decision-making process. Embryotox is used successfully by health care providers and patients in routine health care settings, helping to improve drug safety for pregnant and breastfeeding women.