Clinical decision support (CDS) can be defined very broadly as “a process for enhancing health-related decisions and actions with pertinent, organized clinical knowledge and patient information to improve health and healthcare delivery.” However, it’s important to remember that simply deploying CDS does not automatically equate to performance improvement (PI), said Jerome Osheroff, MD, during a Wednesday morning session at HM12.
Dr. Osheroff is a leader in CDS and a key editor of the new HIMSS publication “Improving Outcomes with CDS: An Implementer’s Guide.” SHM co-sponsored the publication, and hospitalist Kendall Rogers was an editor.
Dr. Osheroff advised hospitalists to keep in mind the five “rights” of CDS: the right information, to the right people, in the right intervention formats, through the right channels, and at the right points in workflow. He also stressed the importance of workflow analysis, solid governance and management, and strategic plan development when initiating a hospital-based CDS program.
He finished the discussion by stressing the importance of collaboration, and described the “CDS/PI Collaborative,” a multi-stakeholder national movement bringing CDS tools to caregivers and healthcare organizations.
“The screws are getting tighter and tighter” in healthcare, he said, and CDS collaboration needs to act as the screwdriver. In a show of hands during the session, the majority of attendees would participate in this approach, especially with SHM support.
Takeaways
- Apply the “CDS Five Rights” when implementing the CDS process.
- CDS deployment does not equate to performance improvement.
- The CDS/PI Collaborative can provide tools to healthcare organizations.
- Consider the Zen saying: A poor farmer produces weeds, a good farmer produces crops, a wise farmer produces soil.