First steps in co-designing an online patient decision support tool for enhanced medication management in older people

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Digital Health
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Older adults face challenges in managing multiple medications.
• Patient involvement in healthcare tool development is crucial for relevance and impact.
• Existing digital health solutions may not adequately address the specific needs of older populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a minimum viable product (MVP) of an online medication management patient decision support tool.
• To involve a stakeholder committee (SC) in informing the MVP's design and features.
• To create a patient-facing healthcare application tailored for older people.

Main Methods:

• Recruited a diverse SC including consumers, healthcare practitioners, and researchers.
• Conducted collaborative videoconferencing meetings between the SC and investigators.
• Performed content analysis on meeting data (recordings, minutes, emails) to guide MVP development.

Main Results:

• Developed 'My Medicine Goals' (mymedicinegoals.com), an MVP co-designed with the SC.
• The tool enables older adults to manage medication lists, set care goals, and access information.
• Included interactive tools like the Patient's Attitudes Towards Deprescribing questionnaire and medication risk self-assessment.

Conclusions:

• This co-design approach empowers older adults and carers in research.
• Developed a relevant and impactful online patient-facing healthcare application.
• Demonstrated a successful model for stakeholder-informed digital health tool creation for older populations.