Critical care nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists interface patterns with computer-based decision...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Clinical Decision Support Systems
• Critical Care Nursing

Background:

• Advanced practice nurses (APNs) in critical care settings utilize various clinical decision support systems (CDSS).
• Understanding the integration of automated systems into human decision-making processes is crucial for patient management.
• APNs' characteristics can influence their interaction with and adoption of CDSS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing clinical decision support systems.
• To identify patterns of CDSS integration by critical care APNs.
• To analyze how automated systems model human decision-making in critical care.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of Medline, Ovid, CINAHL, and PubMed databases.
• Keywords: "clinical decision support systems," "computerized clinical decision making," "APNs."
• Examination of components within major clinical decision systems.

Main Results:

• Varied use patterns of CDSS among APNs and other clinicians were observed.
• Significant variation exists in how critical care APNs utilize operational CDSS.
• APNs need to understand their system usage and critically evaluate technology's impact on decision-making.

Conclusions:

• There is a need for original research on APN utilization of CDSS in critical care.
• Understanding APN interaction with technology is vital, given their roles in patient admissions and transfers.
• APNs should critically assess the influence of automated decision systems on their practice.