Usability of an app-based clinical decision support system to monitor psychotropic drug prescribing appropriateness in dementia

Background: Guidelines recommend reluctant psychotropic drug (PD) prescribing in nursing home residents with dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), as efficacy of PDs is limited, and side effects are common. Nevertheless, PDs are commonly prescribed to reduce NPS. A smartphone application that evaluates appropriateness of PD prescriptions and provides recommendations from the revised Dutch guideline on problem behaviour in dementia may promote guideline adherence and increase appropriate prescribing.Objective: This study aimed to assess user experiences, barriers and facilitators of the Dutch 'Psychotropic Drug Tool' smartphone application (PDT) in the context of appropriate prescribing of PDs to nursing home residents with dementia and NPS.Methods/design: The PDT was developed according to the recommendations of the Dutch guideline for treatment of NPS in people with dementia. Feedback provided during usability testing with two end-users was applied to improve the PDT before implementation in day-to-day practice. Sixty-three prescribers were asked to use the PDT at their own convenience for four months. User expectations and experiences were assessed at baseline and after four months with the System Usability Scale and the Assessment of Barriers and Facilitators for Implementation.Results: Expected usability (M = 72.59; SD = 11.84) was similar to experienced usability after four months (M = 69.13; SD = 16.48). Appreciation of the PDTs user-friendliness (on average 6.7 out of 10) and design (7.3) were moderately positive, in contrast to the global rating of the PDT (5.7). Perceived barriers for PDT use were time consumption and lack of integration with existing electronic systems. Perceived facilitators were ease of use and attractive lay out. For broader implementation, physicians suggested a change in direction of the PDT: start assessment of appropriateness based on the list of NPS instead of PD as primary input.Conclusions: In this pragmatic prospective cohort study we found that the PDT was used by elderly care physicians, with mediocre user satisfaction. The PDT will be optimized based on user feedback regarding experienced usability, barriers and facilitators, after which broader implementation can be initialized. The Medical Ethics Review Board of the University Medical Center Groningen declared this is a non-WMO study (UMCG RR Number: 201800284).