Expanding Medication Decision Support in Community Pharmacies without Sacrificing Usability

Patient safety has been an area of intense attention and research across disciplines for nearly two decades, with medication safety being a key concern. Many community pharmacies have installed software programs with algorithms to detect and alert pharmacists of potentially harmful drug interactions. Despite the improvements that have been made in reducing medication errors by using these engineering interventions, there are information gaps in addressing broader contextual information related to patients’ health goals. Focusing on the role and work tasks of community pharmacists helps to address the usability issues that could arise if medication decision support tools expanded to include an increasing range of medication alerts. The authors’ goal is to improve alignment between healthcare professional needs and patient health goals, while recognizing the unique work demands and patient interaction opportunities of community pharmacists.