A Clinical Decision Support System for Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism

Abstract

Computer-based clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are defined as "any software designed to directly aid in clinical decision making in which characteristics of individual patients are matched to a computerized knowledge base for the purpose of generating patient-specific assessments or recommendations that are then presented to clinicians for consideration."¹ Clinical decision support systems have been promoted for their potential to improve the quality of health care by supporting clinical decision making. In particular, it has been suggested that physicians have difficulties processing complex information² and will improve their prescription practices in response to electronically delivered recommendations.³ However, given their rapid rate of development and the limited range of clinical settings in which they have been tested to date, it has been stressed that CDSSs should be rigorously evaluated before widespread introduction into clinical practice.^1,4