Appl Clin Inform 2022; 13(03): 602-611
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1749332
Research Article

Evaluating a Prototype Clinical Decision Support Tool for Chronic Pain Treatment in Primary Care

Katie S. Allen
1   Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Elizabeth C. Danielson
3   Center for Education in Health Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States
,
Sarah M. Downs
4   Division of Internal Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Olena Mazurenko
1   Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Julie Diiulio
5   Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, Applied Decision Science, LLC, Dayton, Ohio, United States
,
Ramzi G. Salloum
6   University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
,
Burke W. Mamlin
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
4   Division of Internal Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Christopher A. Harle
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
6   University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
› Author Affiliations
Funding This project was supported by Grant R01HS023306 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Designing User-Centered Decision Support Tools for Primary Care Pain Management.
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Abstract

Objectives The Chronic Pain Treatment Tracker (Tx Tracker) is a prototype decision support tool to aid primary care clinicians when caring for patients with chronic noncancer pain. This study evaluated clinicians' perceived utility of Tx Tracker in meeting information needs and identifying treatment options, and preferences for visual design.

Methods We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with primary care clinicians from four health systems in Indiana. The interviews were conducted in two waves, with prototype and interview guide revisions after the first six interviews. The interviews included exploration of Tx Tracker using a think-aloud approach and a clinical scenario. Clinicians were presented with a patient scenario and asked to use Tx Tracker to make a treatment recommendation. Last, participants answered several evaluation questions. Detailed field notes were collected, coded, and thematically analyzed by four analysts.

Results We identified several themes: the need for clinicians to be presented with a comprehensive patient history, the usefulness of Tx Tracker in patient discussions about treatment planning, potential usefulness of Tx Tracker for patients with high uncertainty or risk, potential usefulness of Tx Tracker in aggregating scattered information, variability in expectations about workflows, skepticism about underlying electronic health record data quality, interest in using Tx Tracker to annotate or update information, interest in using Tx Tracker to translate information to clinical action, desire for interface with visual cues for risks, warnings, or treatment options, and desire for interactive functionality.

Conclusion Tools like Tx Tracker, by aggregating key information about past, current, and potential future treatments, may help clinicians collaborate with their patients in choosing the best pain treatments. Still, the use and usefulness of Tx Tracker likely relies on continued improvement of its functionality, accurate and complete underlying data, and tailored integration with varying workflows, care team roles, and user preferences.

Keywords

clinical decision support - pain - chronic - usability

Note

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.


Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

This study was performed in compliance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and was approved by the Indiana University Institutional Review Board.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 02 November 2021

Accepted: 08 April 2022

Article published online:
01 June 2022

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