Developing a Novel Digital Tool for Personalised Antipsychotic Prescribing in People Living With Dementia: The Views of Australian Clinicians

Optimising antipsychotic prescribing in people living with dementia is important to manage symptoms and avoid adverse events. Clinical decision support tools that predict therapeutic response based on individual patient characteristics can help personalise prescribing and complement decision-making by prescribers. The aim of this study is to investigate the views of Australian prescribers on the development and use of a digital antipsychotic prescribing support tool in dementia. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the perspectives of Australian prescribers on using a digital prescribing support tool in dementia. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with a sample of 14 clinicians. Themes were organised according to topic areas about the development and use of the tool. Clinicians expressed that the tool could assist in identifying risk, allowing prescribers to be more cautious with antipsychotic prescribing. The tool could promote informed decision-making by assisting prescribers to consider more factors prior to prescribing whilst serving as an educational tool to aid shared decision-making with patients and carers. Though there were benefits, clinicians raised that there are complexities of antipsychotic prescribing, as the tool may not account for situational need, where benefits may outweigh risks. Some clinicians expressed potential concerns with technology-based tools, where some prescribers may void their clinical judgement and over-rely on the tool. Some clinicians highlighted younger practitioners, general practitioners, nurses and pharmacists as potential users who could benefit from its use. Clinicians posed suggestions for development, including accessibility through an app, updating data as evidence and guidelines change, and prompts to aid decision-making. This study identified several considerations on the implementation of the tool in clinical practice. Perspectives raised by clinicians should be considered in the tool's future development.