Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 17, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2021
An antibiotic prescription web interface displaying the recommended antibiotics and their properties: A user-centred study in primary care
ABSTRACT
Background:
Antibiotic misuse is a serious public health problem worldwide. To guide General Practitioners (GPs) in antibiotic choice, national health authorities release clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). However, despite the large dissemination of CPGs, GPs continue to prescribe antibiotics that are not recommended as first line. The non-adherence of recommendations may be due to a misunderstanding of CPGs by GPs. To increase the adoption of recommendations regarding antibiotic treatment, we propose to improve the comprehension and the readability of CPGs through a web-interface displaying the recommendations, but also their justifications.
Objective:
To design and evaluate an antibiotic web interface displaying both the recommended antibiotics and their justifications in the form of antibiotic properties.
Methods:
The interface was designed according to the same principles than “e-commerce” interfaces, and then assessed by 117 GPs. GPs had to answer 17 questions related to usefulness, user-friendliness, satisfaction and comprehension of the interface. Questions were measured on a 4-point Likert scale (from “absolutely disagree” to “absolutely agree”). At the end of the evaluation GPs could write optional free comments.
Results:
The antibiotic web interface is divided into three main areas: the “clinical summary” area, the “filter” area and the “recommended antibiotics” area. The “clinical summary” area and the “filter” area were appreciated by more than three quarters of GPs, whereas 49% of GPs reported difficulty for reading some icons in the “recommended antibiotics” area. 83% of GPs found useful to display drug properties, and 66% of them reported the interface helpful for a better comprehension of CPG recommendations.
Conclusions:
We designed and assessed an interface for antibiotic prescription displaying the recommendations and their justifications. The interface can help to understand the rationale underlying CPG recommendations, but still requires improvement before to be implemented into a clinical decision support system.
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