SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Implementation and Usability of a Medication Decision Support Tool Among Hospital Pharmacists: Results of a Qualitative Analysis.

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This qualitative study examined how hospital pharmacists used and experienced the Synapse Medicine Platform, a clinical decision support (CDS) tool designed to identify medication-related risks such as drug-drug interactions, contraindications, and dosing issues based on patient characteristics. The goal was to understand usability and implementation barriers and facilitators as part of a larger mixed-methods study.<br /><br />Researchers interviewed 10 pharmacists who rounded with inpatient general medical teams at two large academic medical centers. Participants had received training and used the tool for at least one month. Interviews were analyzed using rapid qualitative methods guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR).<br /><br />Pharmacists saw several advantages of Synapse. They appreciated that its recommendations were evidence-based, included geriatric tools like STOPP/START, and offered information not always available in Epic. Many used it to prepare for rounds. The tool was also viewed as intuitive, easy to navigate, and generally user-friendly.<br /><br />However, pharmacists also identified key barriers. Synapse sometimes produced too much information, making it hard to identify the most important alerts. Workflow issues, including time pressure during rounds and the need to log in separately, reduced usability. Some pharmacists were unfamiliar with the external databases used by the software, which limited trust or usefulness for institution-specific questions.<br /><br />To improve implementation, pharmacists recommended stronger stakeholder buy-in, leadership support, and broader awareness among physicians and nurses. They suggested brief training was sufficient, but feedback on individual use would help. Most importantly, they emphasized that full integration into the electronic health record and alignment with clinical workflow would likely improve adoption.<br /><br />Overall, pharmacists viewed the CDS tool positively and believed it could support safer medication management, especially if implementation barriers were addressed.

Asset Subtitle

Amanda S. Mixon

Meta Tag

Author List Amanda S. Mixon, Chris Hughes, Clara Forbes, Deonni P. Stolldorf, Domitille Oddon, Guillaume L. Martin, Jeffrey L. Schnipper, Jennifer Smith, Josh Sellers, Kristy Wahaib, Lauren McCluggage, Louis Letinier, Matt Wallace, Nicole Kalver, Rachel Meilan,

Category Research

Concept Medication Decision Support Tool

Concept Adverse Drug Event

Concept Polypharmacy

Concept Drug-Drug Interaction

Concept Inappropriate Dosing

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Presenting Author Amanda S. Mixon

Track Translating Research into Practice

Keywords

hospital pharmacists

clinical decision support

Synapse Medicine Platform

medication safety

drug-drug interactions

usability

implementation barriers

electronic health record

workflow integration

qualitative study

Medication Decision Support Tool

Adverse Drug Event

Polypharmacy

Drug-Drug Interaction

Inappropriate Dosing