Development of a Clinical Decision Support Tool for Dosing Recommendations for Oncology Medications Using Pharmacogenetic Testing: An Interprofessional Approach
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Topic Significance and Study Purpose/Background/Rationale Prescription treatments are linked to adverse drug reactions, but the field of pharmacogenomics provides a way to personalize appropriate drug therapies. To enhance understanding and utilization of pharmacogenetic testing, the Clinical Pharmacogenomic Implementation Consortium (CPIC) created evidence-based guidelines for the prescribing of various medications. The consumption of smartphones and mobile apps for prescribing medications has increased since the initiation of physician order entry and other digital decision support tools. Nurses are at the forefront of patient care, making them well-positioned to inform patients about new and innovative technologies associated with their health. A clinical decision support mobile application that offers knowledge and rationales for the prescription of certain oncology medications based on a patient’s genomic profile was previously created and tested by healthcare providers in the oncology field. The purpose of this study was to gather data to refine the mobile app to improve usability and quality.
Methods, Intervention, and Analysis A heuristic evaluation was conducted by 20 computer science students and faculty after initial refinements were made based on the outcomes of an initial field study. This evaluation examined the user interface, comparing its components and aspects to a set of principles as a guide to appraise the mobile app's usability. Furthermore, qualitative feedback was gathered from an expert in the area of pharmacogenetic testing. The data collected led the computer scientists and the digital artist to refine the mobile app.
Findings and Interpretation Several areas of refinement were identified, including prioritization of most commonly seen alleles, color gradients, and ability to save/print recommendations. Overall, a working mobile app founded on the CPIC guidelines to address the most frequent gene variants seen in oncology patients was refined. The addition of digital art, animation, and printable PDFs established by the results of the pharmacogenetic testing guidelines were finalized.
Discussion and Implications The expansion of this mobile app is applicable to nurses who have prescriptive privileges, as well as an educational tool for all nurses to grasp the rationale for prescribing certain medications and alternate dosages. Translation of pharmacogenomics into practice will benefit patients by improving care, reducing adverse drug reactions, and potentially lowering costs.
