MedPath

Preventing Medication Dispensing Errors in Pharmacy Practice with Interpretable Machine Intelligence

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Machine Intelligence in the Pharmacy
Interventions
Behavioral: No MI Help
Behavioral: Scenario #1
Behavioral: Scenario #2
Registration Number
NCT06245044
Lead Sponsor
University of Michigan
Brief Summary

Pharmacists currently perform an independent double-check to identify drug-selection errors before they can reach the patient. However, the use of machine intelligence (MI) to support this cognitive decision-making work by pharmacists does not exist in practice. This research is being conducted to examine the effectiveness of the timing of machine intelligence (MI) advice on to determine if it results in lower task time, increased accuracy, and increased trust in the MI.

Detailed Description

Pharmacists currently perform an independent double-check currently to identify drug-selection errors before they can reach the patient. However, the use of machine intelligence (MI) to support this cognitive decision-making work by pharmacists does not exist in practice. Instead, pharmacists rely solely on reference images of the medication which they can compare to the prescription vial contents. Previous research has shown that decision support systems can effectively improve healthcare delivery efficiency and accuracy, while preventing adverse drug events. However, little is known about how MI technologies impact pharmacists' work performance and cognitive demand.

To facilitate the long-term symbiotic relationship between the pharmacists and the MI system, proper trust needs to be established. While trust has been identified as the central factor for effective human-machine teaming, issues arise when humans place unjustified trust in automated technologies do not place enough trust in them. Over trust in automation can lead to complacency and automation bias. For instance, the pharmacists may rely on the MI system to the extent that they blindly accept any recommendation by the system. Under trust can result in pharmacist disuse and potential abandonment of the MI system.

Furthermore, little is known about the timing of the MI advice on pharmacists' work performance. For example, showing the MI's advice while the pharmacist is performing the medication verification task may yield different results than showing the MI's advice after the pharmacist made their decision.

The study investigators have developed a MI system for medication images classification. The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the timing of MI advice to determine if it results in lower task time, increased accuracy, and increased trust in the MI.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
69
Inclusion Criteria
  • Licensed pharmacist in the United States
  • Age 18 years and older at screening
  • PC/Laptop with Microsoft Windows 10 or Mac (Macbook, iMac) with MacOS with Google Chrome, Edge, Opera, Safari, or Firefox web browser installed on the device
  • Screen resolution of 1024x968 pixels or more
  • A laptop integrated webcam or USB webcam is also required for the eye tracking purpose.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Participated in Wave 1 or Wave 2
  • Eyeglasses
  • Uncorrected cataracts, intraocular implants, glaucoma, or permanently dilated pupil
  • Require a screen reader/magnifier or other assistive technology to use the computer
  • Eye movement or alignment abnormalities (lazy eye, strabismus, nystagmus)

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
CROSSOVER
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Scenario #2Scenario #2MI help will be displayed concurrently with the filled and reference images.
No MI HelpScenario #1No MI help will be presented during the verification tasks
Scenario #1Scenario #2MI help will be presented in the form of a pop-up message the participant's decision differs from the MI's determination.
Scenario #2Scenario #1MI help will be displayed concurrently with the filled and reference images.
Scenario #2No MI HelpMI help will be displayed concurrently with the filled and reference images.
No MI HelpNo MI HelpNo MI help will be presented during the verification tasks
No MI HelpScenario #2No MI help will be presented during the verification tasks
Scenario #1No MI HelpMI help will be presented in the form of a pop-up message the participant's decision differs from the MI's determination.
Scenario #1Scenario #1MI help will be presented in the form of a pop-up message the participant's decision differs from the MI's determination.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Reaction time1 day - Single study visit

Difference in task time measured by the number of seconds from starting the task to accepting or rejecting a medication image

Trust1 day - Single study visit

Score on the Muir \& Moray's 100-point trust scale where higher scores indicated greater levels of trust.

Decision accuracy1 day - Single study visit

Difference in detection rate measured by number of medication verification errors

Trust change1 day - Single study visit

Difference in trust as measured by visual analog scale will be calculated based on AI advice accuracy. Participants will indicate their level of trust in the AI advice after every trial on a scale from 1-100, with higher scores indicating greater levels of trust.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Usability1 day - Single study visit

Usability will be assessed using the System Usability Scale (SUS). SUS scores range from 0 to 100 with a higher scores indicating greater trust.

Cognitive effort1 day - Single study visit

Difference in cognitive effort measured by duration of fixation

Workload1 day - Single study visit

Workload will be measured by NASA Task Load Index

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Michigan

🇺🇸

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath