Designing Flexible Longitudinal Regimens: Supporting Clinician Planning for Discontinuation of Psychiatric Drugs

Clinical support for diagnosis or prognosis, but have the ability to support providers in longitudinal planning of patient care regimens amidst infrastructural challenges. We explore an opportunity for technology support for discontinuing antidepressants, where clinical guidelines increasingly recommend gradual discontinuation over abruptly stopping to avoid withdrawal symptoms, but providers have varying levels of experience and diverse strategies for supporting patients through discontinuation. We conducted two studies with 12 providers, identifying providers' needs in developing discontinuation plans and deriving design guidelines. We then iteratively designed and implemented AT Planner, instantiating the guidelines by projecting taper schedules and providing fexibility for adjustment. Provider feedback on AT Planner highlighted that discontinuation plans required balancing interpersonal and infrastructural constraints and surfaced the need for diferent technological support based on clinical experience. We discuss the benefts and challenges of incorporating fexibility and advice into clinical planning tools.

decision support tools have typically focused on one-time Clinical decision support systems; Planning; Psychiatric drugs; Antidepressants