In a complex field where medical decisions often have profound consequences, clinical decision support tools emerge as valuable allies. These digital resources combine medical expertise and technological prowess.
Traditional clinical decision support systems (CDS) consist of software designed to aid clinical decision making, in which a patient’s characteristics are processed against a digital clinical knowledge base and recommendations, specific to the patient, are presented.
Patient Information Management
Patient information management systems (PIMS) organize and oversee patient data in large health systems, physician practices and many other healthcare entities. They provide centralized storage, real-time access and decision support tools. They help to streamline healthcare processes and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Data analysis involves inspection, cleaning, transformation, and modeling of data to discover useful information, suggest conclusions and support decision-making. It is a critical part of the healthcare information management process, as it helps to improve the accuracy of clinical decisions and reduce medical errors.
In the past, physicians and other healthcare providers had to manually collect, store and organize patient records. This was often an arduous task and subject to human error, but PIMS software automates the process. Using machine learning, the system can automatically scan and categorize records to make them searchable. This can save time and money, as well as ensure that data is always accurate and up-to-date.
A PIMS will have a robust taxonomy and indexing system that covers all types of healthcare records, from patient histories to billing reports. This allows healthcare organizations to streamline their information management processes and reduce search times. It can also enable them to achieve higher levels of automation and greater operational efficiency.
As the volume of healthcare data continues to increase, it becomes increasingly difficult for clinicians to incorporate it into their daily decision-making. Fortunately, a wide range of technologies exist to help support clinical decision making in the form of specialized computerized systems that provide automated alerts, guidelines, and recommendations. Combined with other tools such as EHRs, LISs and pharmacy information systems, they can improve workflows and allow physicians to focus their attention on the most important issues at hand.
Despite the positive effects of clinical decision support tools, they aren’t immune to the same challenges that other IT solutions face. For example, alarm fatigue and clinical burnout can occur when users are inundated with notifications that are low-priority or difficult to understand. These systems are also prone to frustrating workflow freezes and bugs that can hinder performance or even impede patient care.
Patient Engagement
Patient engagement is a key component in helping clinicians better serve patients. Engaged patients feel respected and heard, which leads to higher patient satisfaction and loyalty to their healthcare provider. They are also more likely to follow their treatment plan, reducing the need for re-admissions and other costly care interventions.
While traditional clinical decision making often takes place during in-person visits, new technology and digital tools have changed the landscape of this process. For instance, secure, patient-friendly software allows clinicians to share electronic health records with patients, and provides patients the ability to review and update their medical history, emergency contacts, and other details without needing to schedule an in-person visit.
Similarly, telemedicine and other digital communication tools allow clinicians to consult with patients in remote locations, or even on the go, through video calls or text messaging. This helps reduce costs and travel barriers while allowing patients to access healthcare from the comfort of their homes or wherever they may be.
Understanding the role of software in healthcare is essential for improving patient outcomes, streamlining operations, and ensuring data security across the healthcare ecosystem. As the consumerization of healthcare continues to accelerate, patients are expecting more out of their healthcare experience than ever before. They are looking for the same accessibility and personalization they see in other businesses, as well as a more collaborative relationship with their healthcare providers. This is driving healthcare organizations to prioritize qualities that lead to an exceptional customer and employee experience as well as patient loyalty.
One of the best ways to increase patient engagement is through shared decision making. Clinicians can implement this by using a variety of high quality decision aids, which are designed to be accessible for a range of varying literacy levels and cultural norms. Providing patients with these resources in advance of their appointments can improve their understanding of the issues, minimize decisional conflict and anxiety, and help them adhere to screening, diagnostic, and treatment plans (38).
Additionally, clinical research teams can encourage patient engagement by engaging early in the research process to determine whether or not a trial is right for a particular group of patients. A number of objective factors can influence a patient’s willingness to participate in a clinical study, including cost and time commitment, perceived benefits, and prior beliefs or attitudes about participating (40). By leveraging tools that facilitate telemedicine consultations with patients, researchers can more easily address these barriers and encourage participation.
Patient Safety
Even in top-notch clinical facilities, accidents and misdiagnoses are sometimes a result of human error. To mitigate these errors, hospitals implement protocols designed to ensure patient safety. Patient safety initiatives also encourage open communication between healthcare professionals and patients, minimizing misunderstandings that can lead to medical mistakes and unnecessary suffering.
In order to support clinical decision making, healthcare software systems allow staff to access information quickly and easily from any location. This makes it easy to track a patient’s condition throughout treatment, as well as reduce the likelihood of duplicate tests or missed diagnoses. This can also save healthcare facilities money by eliminating the need to pay for unnecessary procedures or hospital admissions.
A comprehensive EHR solution can help to streamline workflows, allowing all members of a patient’s healthcare team to see the same data simultaneously. This can prevent lost information, increase coordination between teams and improve communication throughout the care process.
Using EHR tools can also help to make it easier for medical professionals to follow safety protocols and guidelines. These tools can alert doctors to potential drug interactions, allergies and adverse reactions, so that they are able to avoid harmful side effects and ensure that the correct medications are prescribed.
Some of these solutions even feature a knowledge base that is updated regularly with medical research and guidance. This allows clinicians to make more informed decisions and provide better care to their patients. In addition, some of these systems use machine learning to analyse and find patterns in medical data, helping them to identify symptoms more accurately.
The patient safety movement is gaining momentum, and it’s crucial that healthcare providers adopt these new methods to ensure that patients are safe in their hands. Patients are also playing a role in patient safety by supporting the movement through educating themselves and speaking up when they are not comfortable with their treatment.
Educating and training healthcare personnel in patient safety protocols is key, but regular evaluation of staff education initiatives and participant feedback must be conducted to measure the impact that these programs have. Incorporating these tools into a patient’s medical plan will not only improve the quality of the healthcare delivered, but also increase trust between patients and their healthcare providers.
Patient Communication
Healthcare is a team sport, comprised of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, patients, pharmacists and insurance companies. Effective communication between all parties is key for successful treatment and positive outcomes. Any miscommunication could lead to an inaccurate diagnosis and treatment, bad side effects, or even harm the patient.
Healthcare software can support the flow of information between team members and enhance communication. For example, healthcare software that provides centralized data management allows clinicians to share notes with each other and refer back to previous conversations, as well as provide patients with comprehensive information on their condition and the next steps in their care plan. The software can also help to reduce the need for manual data entry, saving staff time.
Clinical decision support tools (CDSS) can also be used to improve the quality of patient decisions by supporting clinicians with targeted information or recommendations at the point of care. These systems use the characteristics of an individual patient to match with a computerized clinical knowledge base to provide situation-specific assessment or guidance. CDSS can be found in a variety of software platforms from standalone desktop systems, to those that are fully integrated into EHRs and other digitized clinical workflows.
Some CDSS use a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning to automatically analyze data and identify patterns in the data. These systems have seen great strides in recent years and are renowned for their ability to predict complications, diagnose rare conditions and recommend optimal treatments. However, because these systems cannot explain the reasoning behind their conclusions, they are not typically used for diagnostics, but instead as post-diagnostic assistance or to guide further investigation by the clinician.
Once a healthcare software system has been developed and is ready to be implemented, it must undergo thorough testing and validation processes to ensure that it is secure and functional. These include unit testing, integration testing, and system testing. In addition to these processes, the software must be maintained on an ongoing basis, with bug fixes and security updates being applied. This is to ensure that the software keeps up with evolving healthcare standards and continues to provide value for both the team and the patients.
