The Experience of Physicians in Pharmacogenomic Clinical Decision Support Within Eight German University Hospitals

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the physicians’ attitude, their knowledge and their experience in pharmacogenomic clinical decision support in German hospitals. Materials & methods: We conducted an online survey to address physicians of 13 different medical specialties across eight German university hospitals. In total, 564 returned questionnaires were analyzed. Results: The remaining knowledge gap, the uncertainty of test reimbursement and the physicians’ lack of awareness of existing pharmacogenomic clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are the major barriers for implementing pharmacogenomic CDSS into German hospitals. Furthermore, pharmacogenomic CDSS are most effective in the form of real-time decision support for internists. Conclusion: Physicians in German hospitals require additional education of both genetics and pharmacogenomics. They need to be provided with access to relevant pharmacogenomic CDSS.

Keywords::

• clinical decision support
• German university hospital
• pharmacogenomic

Acknowledgements

The present work was performed in fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the degree ‘Dr. rer. biol. hum.’ from the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (M Hinderer). This study was conducted within the MIRACUM consortium. Members of MIRACUM are listed in Supplementary File 1.

Author contributions

M Hinderer and B Sedlmayr designed the survey questionnaire. HU Prokosch, H Binder, M Boeker, T Acker, SA Wagner, M Neumaier, C Schade-Brittinger, F Ückert and JL Hülsemann acquired participants in their corresponding university hospitals. M Hinderer programmed the survey questions into the SoSci Survey program and conducted the survey. M Hinderer and B Sedlmayr contributed to the data analysis and interpretation of data. M Hinderer has written the first draft of the article and has edited the final version. All authors have contributed to the article by revising the first draft and providing various comments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

MIRACUM is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the ‘Medical Informatics Funding Scheme’ [55] (funding reference number FKZ 01ZZ1606H). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The Ethics Committee of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg confirms that no ethical approval is required for the present study (see Supplementary File 2). Where applicable, we followed the STROBE guidelines [28] in the reporting of this observational study (see Supplementary File 3). The authors state that they have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

MIRACUM is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the ‘Medical Informatics Funding Scheme’ [55] (funding reference number FKZ 01ZZ1606H). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.