Managing complex therapies outside hospitals. An analysis of GPs practices of how to support medication at home.

Support systems for the management of prescriptions are commonplace in hospitals, whilst they are rarely found in general practice. This exploratory study draws on a qualitative survey conducted with focus groups to investigate the information needs of General Practitioners (GPs) in regard to the therapeutic management of complex patients, the purpose being to identify possible areas of application. The question addressed is whether the systems existing in hospitals can be usefully adapted and used by GPs or if a different approach needs to be adopted to design other tools. The analysis shows that the information needs of GPs relative to medication management are significantly different from those of their hospital colleagues because the former are not directly responsible for the administration but instead operate within a care network on which they cannot exercise direct control. This study suggests that support systems for therapy management should be designed on the assumption that it derives from cooperative work by a heterogeneous network of actors, and therefore with functionalities intended to satisfy the coordination needs of all the actors involved in the process.