Assessing health care setting readiness for point of care computerized clinical decision support system innovations

Increasing interest in linking high-quality and cost-effective clinical practice processes to patient outcomes has enhanced interest in computerizing clinical practice guidelines to support clinician decision making. This article describes a Clinical Information Technology Innovation Model (CITIM) that was used to assess health care setting readiness for a clinical decision support system (CDSS) to decrease innovation risk and enhance the potential for innovation success. A case illustration shows CITIM application in the assessment of a hospital's readiness for a computerized knowledge-based system to support RN acute pain management decision making with patients who had coronary artery bypass graft surgery.