Transforming clinical practice guideline usage through the use of a clinical decision support system: An explorative study at the university medical centre Utrecht

Abstract

Medical treatments require a lot of knowledge and skills. To safeguard the quality of healthcare in general, Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) are written. Different studies show that the quality of healthcare improves by using CPGs. Based on the advancements in IT, a CPG could best be supported through the use of a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS). In this paper, we seek to transform the use of several CPGs with regards to anti-clotting medicine and treatments through the utilization of a CDSS at the University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU) in the Netherlands. Data analysis shows that many of the included CPGs overlap and that the utilization of a CDSS for the determination of anti-clotting medicine and treatments could result in more effective and efficient decision making. Additionally, during the validation of the CDSS, we derived the attitude of the stakeholders towards the use of a CPG in a pilot study comprising a CDSS and identified several success factors that should be taken into account when designing, validating, and implementing CPGs into CDSS.