Evaluation of a user-oriented inter-physician exchange portal within a decision support system for primary care - a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: General practitioners are often the first point of contact for patients with rare or unclear conditions. While clinical decision support systems (CDSS) based on artificial intelligence can provide valuable assistance, effective communication between physicians remains crucial. Therefore, integrating digital tools to facilitate communication between physicians is considered an important additional pillar of a CDSS for primary care. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the design of a portal to facilitate collaboration between physicians within a CDSS for primary care. The objective was to identify usability issues in the inter-physician exchange portal at an early stage to optimise the design of future portals within CDSSs. METHODS: A first prototype of the inter-physician exchange portal was evaluated and further developed in two stages. Heuristic and user evaluations were conducted to optimise usability and better understand challenges. RESULTS: The design process resulted in a first interactive prototype of an inter-physician exchange portal. The heuristic evaluation identified 36 usability issues, which informed subsequent refinements to the prototype. User evaluations indicated positive overall perceptions of usability, along with specific recommendations for enhancing the display of status information. The portal achieved an average System Usability Scale score of 81.5, which corresponds to an 'excellent' rating. CONCLUSION: Developing an inter-physician exchange portal within a CDSS for primary care facilitates the exchange of information between physicians and can thus improve the care for patients with rare and unclear diseases. General practitioners' motivation to engage with the portal is influenced by several factors, notably the existence of an active user community. Future developments should address usability issues and evaluate l acceptance levels, impact on patient care, and long-term user retention in a real-world clinical setting. The integration of existing solutions could also be considered.