A clinical decision support (CDS) solution is an essential part of your organization’s workflow, helping your clinical care teams make evidence-based decisions at the point of care.

A CDS solution should also enhance patient outcomes and improve quality of care. While a solution may offer many features, it’s only effective if your clinicians and care teams want to use it and trust the information it provides.

So how do you select the right CDS solution for your organization — one that will not only provide the actionable, relevant clinical information your clinician care teams trust, but is also easy to use and streamlines the workflow without information overload and clinician burnout?

Male physician using digital tablet

Questions to consider when assessing your current CDS solution or selecting a new one

Does your CDS solution optimize the clinical workflow?

An effective CDS solution should lighten the load on clinicians and care teams and optimize their workflow. Ease of use and finding actionable answers quickly at the point of care is essential. Therefore, content should be organized in a way that mirrors how clinicians think, providing access to the information they need with the least amount of clicks.

  • Key questions to ask
    • Is the content structured according to a clinician’s decision-making process?
    • Is your solution evolving with purposeful technology, such as voice-enabled search?
    • Does your solution support your institution’s objectives with quality measures requirements and reporting?
    • Is the content consistent across the continuum of care?
    • Does your CDS improve the efficiency and productivity within and across teams?
    • Is the solution developed based on interoperability standards with supporting APIs?
    • Can you easily embed the solution into your Electronic Health Records?
    • How easy is it for clinicians to access clinical information once in the EHR?
How often is the content used and trusted by clinicians?
Even the most experienced clinicians and care teams need support to keep up with standards of care. They need a CDS solution with evidence-based content that's robust enough to answer most of their questions at the point of care. Assessing how often clinicians refer to your solution indicates a level of trust in the information provided and a level of performance with quality measures.
  • Key questions to ask
    • How many times per day do your clinicians refer to the solution?
    • Are clinicians satisfied with your CDS solution?
    • Does the solution help your organization pursue or maintain accreditation(s)?
    • Does the solution include consistent clinical drug information for comprehensive care decisions?
    • Can your clinicians see what is on your institution’s drug formulary in the CDS content?
    • Does your solution eliminate “disconnects” and miscommunication between care team decisions based on different information sources?

Who authors and edits the content?

The quality of a CDS solution rests on the quality of the content. When consulting a solution to check the evidence or for answers to questions, care teams need to feel confident that the content is evidence-based and has been developed by a multi-disciplinary editorial team with advanced training and clinical experience, and specific expertise in the topic discussed.
  • Key questions to ask
    • How many clinicians are on the editorial team?
    • Is content reviewed by independent experts who are regarded as leaders in their field?
    • Do the members of the editorial team continue to practice in a clinical setting such as hospitals?
    • Are pharmacists and nurses involved in the production of content and do they collaborate with the clinicians on the editorial team for aligned information?

What is the editorial process for creating content?

When evaluating a CDS solution, it’s important to understand the editorial policy and whether the original content is based on evidence and in a format that mimics the clinical decision-making process. You should also know how often the content is updated based on new findings and guidelines and how that evidence applies to a clinical question.
  • Key questions to ask
    • Does your CDS solution follow a clear hierarchy of evidence and provide actionable recommendations for patient care?
    • Are recommendations written based on an international system that is recognized to support evidence-based medicine such as GRADE?
    • Does your solution’s editorial team have the capability to respond quickly to public health emergencies with advisories and key recommendations for frontline clinicians?
    • How are important and practice-changing updates handled in your solution?
    • How often are your solution’s editorial policies and procedures reviewed?

Is use of the CDS solution proven to improve quality of care?

It’s not enough that a CDS solution answers clinical questions. Your care teams also need to be confident that using the solution will support clinical decision-making and improve quality of care for each patient. Read the research, case studies, and most importantly, talk to your clinicians and other clinical leaders in similar organizations.
  • Key questions to ask
    • Are there research studies that back the use of your CDS solution at the point of care?
    • Has the use of the solution been associated with improved healthcare quality measures, particularly on high-priority conditions such as pneumonia, congestive heart failure and surgical infection prevention?
    • Have you conducted a survey with your clinicians to know how often they change decisions based on findings in your CDS solution?
    • Are you able to measure the impact that your CDS solution has on quality measures and on clinicians’ job satisfaction?
    • Does your CDS improve patient outcomes by removing variability and inconsistencies from one care team to another?

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