Introduction

This page provides guidance on enhancing usability in Digital Solutions for Community Pharmacy Clinical Services. The guidance is informed by User Research conducted with Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, with the objective of improving usability, reducing cognitive load, and enhancing the overall user experience. These recommendations are intended as practical suggestions to promote better system usability.

Best Practice for Consultation Recording

Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians (referred to as Health or Care Professionals) providing Consultations for Community Pharmacy Clinical Services require simple, quick, intuitive and easy-to-use systems that enable them to focus on Patient care. The following best practices are recommended for the design and development of Digital Solutions that support the recording of Pharmacy Consultation Information:

1. Provide easy access to all services, ideally with a single sign-in

2. Adopt Standardised User Interface (UI) patterns across all Consultation templates to ensure consistency

3. Design the Consultation layout to guide the Health or Care Professional through the process in a natural and logical order, rather than strictly following the sequence of the Advanced Service Specifications (e.g. exclusion criteria should be placed at the start of the Consultation template)

4. Use simple, consistent language that Health or Care Professionals actually use

5. Avoid acronyms and initialisms to ensure the system is inclusive

6. Display only relevant, in-context information, using branching logic where appropriate

7. Minimise steps and duplication within a single Consultation record

8. Make it easy for the User to know where they are in the process of completing the Consultation

9. Capture only essential information to reduce time and cognitive load

10. Make the purpose of the data being captured explicit, including specifying which fields are optional and mandatory in accordance with NHS Digital Service Manual

11. Clearly indicate which data elements share their information with other Health or Care Providers, such as the Patient's registered GP Practice or the NHSBSA, to improve data recording and accuracy

12. Use clear error messages with simple recovery steps

13. Automate simple calculations, such as Body Mass Index (BMI) in Adults or Patient’s age or estimated ovulation

14. Include a feedback mechanism, so that IT Suppliers can constantly learn from their users and improve the usability of Consultation templates

15. Implement templates to allow for quick updates when guidance changes (e.g. new medications added)