Overview of Clinical Decision Support Systems

Abstract

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are computer systems designed to impact clinician decision making about individual patients at the point in time that these decisions are made.With the increased focus on the prevention of medical errors that has occurred since the publication of the landmark Institute of Medicine report, To Err Is Human, computer-based physician order entry (CPOE) systems, coupled with CDSS, have been proposed as a key element of systems’ approaches to improving patient safety.1–4 If used properly, CDSS have the potential to change the way medicine has been taught and practiced. This chapter will provide an overview of clinical decision support systems, summarize current data on the use and impact of clinical decision support systems in practice, and will provide guidelines for users to consider as these systems begin to be incorporated in commercial systems, and implemented outside the research and development settings. The other chapters in this book will explore these issues in more depth