Table 3
Factors for Appropriate and Useful Alerts
| Issue | Requirements/Suggestions | Appropriate | Useful | |
| Specificity | Specificity[2 9 39] | Alerts should be clinically important for the patient | X | X |
| Relevance[19 39] | Alerts should not be of minor importance | X | X | |
| Urgency[26] | Action should follow the alert (is required and is possible) | X | X | |
| Accuracy[26] | Alerts should be presented at the patient level: right patient, gender, age should be used, as well as known allergies and serum levels | X | X | |
| Exceptions, repetition[7 14 19 20 26] | Entering exceptions or mitigating circumstances should be easy to influence the number and accuracy of future alerts positively | X | X | |
| Information content | Unambiguity[12 28] | Information must be clear and unambiguous | X | |
| Justification[39] | Justification of the recommendation should be shown, no black-box warnings | X | ||
| Conciseness[26 28 39] | Amount of information should be limited; initial triage should be possible at a glance | X | ||
| Accessibility[26 28 39] | More information should be easily accessible (in the program itself and/or in other knowledge sources) | X | ||
| Seriousness[14 19 27] | Seriousness of the alerts should be clear | X | ||
| Alternative[12 19 26] | Alternative action should be presented | X | ||
| Sensitivity | Sensitivity[2 7] | Alerts must be generated in all dangerous cases | X | |
| Workflow | Workflow[26 40] | Alerts should be directed to the right person; low specificity alerts or administration alerts can be presented to nurses or pharmacy | (x) | X |
| Knowledge specific[26] | Specialist should receive fewer alerts than residents | X | ||
| Specialty specific[26] | Specialist should receive no alerts on his own specialty | X | ||
| Repetition[26] | Annoying repetition should be prevented, turning off the alert (for a certain period) should be possible if user performs well | X | ||
| Safe and efficient handling | Seriousness[22] | Overriding fatal alerts should not be easy (high threshold) | X | |
| Reasoning[12 19 20] | Reasons for any noncompliance should be requested | X | ||
| Non-inquisitive alerts[11 12 39] | System should not ask for more data entry | X | ||
| Action[11 12] | Promoting action rather than stopping intended action | X | ||
| Speed[11 26] | System must have speed | X | ||
| Screen design[26] | Size and place of buttons should be logical, ensuring speed and error reduction | X | ||
| Work to be done[11 26 28] | Minimizing scrolling, keystrokes, typing, mouse clicks, steps to accomplish a task, screen or window changes, switching between keyboard and mouse | X |
