From Adoption to Adaptation: A One-Year Follow-Up on the Usability, Perception, and Adoption of Digital Interactive Clinical Pathways Among a Portuguese National Wound Care Society

Introduction: Clinicians often face information overload, making it challenging to keep up with evidence-based practices.1,2 Traditional paper-based pocket guides, which quickly become outdated, have been a common tool for point-of-care decision-making.1 A Portuguese national wound care society* transformed their printed pocket guide library into nineteen interactive digital guides, featuring interactive clinical pathways, videos, checklists, and documentation templates. This study evaluates the usability, satisfaction, and adoption of these pathways one year post-implementation.  Methods:Using the Design Thinking methodology3, the suite** was developed within a decision support web-application***, and introduced to 100 society members. A year later, an evaluation form embedded in the support platform gathered feedback using 4 Likert scale and 2 open questions. This assessed usability (how easy and often the guides are used), perceived usefulness (how the guides aid in decision-making and promote best practices), and overall perception/satisfaction (willingness to recommend). Additionally, data on the frequency of pathway usage were collected.  Results:The suite, a cloud-based, mobile-responsive, HIPAA-compliant solution with nineteen interactive pathways, offers step-by-step clinical guidance and automatically generated documentation.Of the 22 members who completed the evaluation, the most frequently accessed pathways were “Leg Ulcers,” “Wound Bed Preparation,” and “Infection Management.”80% of clinicians used the pathways 1-2 times monthly, 86% found them helpful in clinical decision-making, and all would recommend them to peers.However, 5% reported difficulties in accessing the guides, prompting the Society to offer members 4 educational webinars with real clinical cases illustrating how to use each digital guide at the point-of-care.Discussion/Conclusions:The digital pathways demonstrated high usability and satisfaction among members, streamlining information dissemination and updates. They offer the society enhanced content management and distribution, enable in-depth data analysis, and facilitate the evaluation of interventions linked to improved real-world outcomes. The suite's potential extends across various societies and organizations, with licensing options allowing other institutions to customize and adopt best practices and guidelines swiftly. This approach aims to standardize care, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance wound management outcomes.References 1. Pantoja T, Grimshaw JM, Colomer N, Castañon C, Leniz Martelli J. Manually-generated reminders delivered on paper: effects on professional practice and patient outcomes. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Dec 18;12(12):CD001174. 2. Parra-Medina LE, Álvarez-Cervera FJ. [Information overload syndrome: a bibliographic review]. Rev Neurol. 2021 Nov 16;73(12):421–8. 3. Ferreira FK, Song EH, Gomes H, Garcia EB, Ferreira LM. New mindset in scientific method in the health field: Design Thinking. Clinics. 2015 Dec 10;70(12):770–2.