Clinical decision support software for chronic heart failure

Critical care pathways, protocols, and guidelines have become an everyday feature of clinical practice and represent a distillation of the best available evidence. Chronic heart failure guidelines can be complex, and it is acknowledged that a combination of knowledge and expert advice, in addition to guidelines, is required to optimally treat these patients. This current article describes the potential value of clinical decision support software (CDSS) in the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure and practical aspects of using such a tool. Barriers to implementation of our tool included relatively low computer skills among family physicians and a lack of complexity within CDSS in addressing the wider nonmedical needs of patients. Improving computer skills, integrating CDSS into referral pathways, and requests for investigation may be ways of enhancing the use of this technology.