Clinical decision support systems, or CDSS, are tools medical providers use to support their diagnostic process. Today, CDSS is a part of nearly every doctor's electronic health record (EHR) access or clinical workflow. A provider can use a CDSS during an appointment to see additional diagnostic pathways and troubleshoot your symptoms.
A clinical decision support system is a software solution that helps improve patient safety. The most common example of a CDSS is the system that healthcare providers use to access your EHR.
They can start documenting a patient's symptoms and history, and get the system's suggestions for differential diagnosis. They can also red-flag certain dangerous symptoms mentioned by the patient, possibly catching an emergency before it actually begins.
How the CDSS System Works
The CDSS system makes suggestions and flags any acute or emergency problems. Then, the provider uses the system's suggestions and flags to inform their next steps.
Today's providers use CDSS as a supporting tool. They consider its role in the diagnostic process, but they don't let it diagnose patients for them.
Benefits of Clinical Decision Support Systems
Clinical decision support systems have a wide range of uses and benefits to providers and practices.
For instance, the CDSS has been shown to:
Improve adherence to clinical guidelines: By applying recent medical protocols and knowledge.
Offer insight: By contributing viable ideas to the patient's treatment and diagnostics.
Save time in emergencies: By flagging symptoms indicating serious medical issues.
Drawbacks of Clinical Decision Support Systems
Like any system, the clinical decision support system isn't perfect. In fact, keep an eye out for these drawbacks:
Alert fatigue: The typical CDSS generates alerts for a lot of small health markers that may not be helpful, causing providers to become desensitized and miss important alerts.
Cost of installation, training, and maintenance: It's extremely expensive for an organization to invest in a CDSS, leaving it out of reach for some providers.
Ethical problems: The CDSS doesn't always have the full context, so it's important for providers to use their own judgment. If they rely overly or fully on the CDSS without considering their patient individually, it becomes an ethical problem of not having taken into account the patient's case.
Get Help With Your Clinic's Systems
If your practice finds that its systems are lacking, TempDev consulting is the bridge you need to a solution. TempDev can help you find the CDSS software that's best for your clinic. Get in touch today to learn how TempDev can help you make the most of your CDSS!
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