Design, development, and evaluation of a multi-lingual web-based database for informing people regarding driving-impairing medicines

Abstract

Objective Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) is a growing traffic safety problem in many countries. It is estimated that 5 to 10% of medicinal drugs may impair driving due to their side effects. Despite the high number of medicinal drugs prescribed in Iran, there is a lack of a database that could provide specialized information regarding medicinal drugs and driving. Therefore, the present study aimed to design, develop, and evaluate a database for informing the general public, drivers, and healthcare providers regarding driving-impairing medicines. Methods The Drugs-and-traffic-safety (DATS) database, which has been developed by Road Traffic Injury Research Center (RTIRC), was designed using Java, HTML, JavaScript and MySql database. After completing the testing process, pharmaceutical data (i.e., generic and brand names, route of administration, anatomical classification, etc.), the level of influence of medicinal drugs on driving, and driving-related recommendations based on the level of influence for consumers were entered into the database. A cross-sectional study, and a qualitative study as semi-structured interviews and expert panels were conducted in different target groups to evaluate the DATS. Finally, the evaluation results were used to improve the database. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and MAXQDA-10, respectively. Results The DATS was the only web-based database that could be accessed online via different browsers. The database included information about 1,255 medicinal drugs, and their influence on driving was shown with four colors, i.e., green (insignificant or no effect), yellow (mild effect), orange (moderate effect), and red (severe effect). The database was designed in multiple languages, which could enable users to search for medicinal drug names in both Persian and English. Based on the quantitative results, the mean score of the DATS was 75.10 ± 16.01 (out of 100) from the public viewpoint, indicating that the users were relatively satisfied with the database. Some themes and subthemes were extracted from the qualitative section of the study which revealed the users found DATS a practical, useful, and user-friendly tool. Conclusion Considering the positive feedback of users about DATS in the quantitative and qualitative evaluations, implementing DATS in Iran could provide useful advice in terms of the influence of medicinal drugs on driving to the public and traffic users. Therefore, it can raise public awareness of the risk of driving under the influence of medicinal drugs.