Using computerised decision-support systems

Decision support is an extension of electronic health record or electronic patient record systems. As well as enabling health professionals to look up information about individual patients stored in the system and to consult evidence-based guidance, they give advice on the treatment and management most appropriate for that patient. They are designed to help with the process of clinical decision making. Computerised decision-support systems match patient characteristics to a computerised knowledge base to produce patient-specific assessments or recommendations. Decision support can be paper-based, but computerised systems have the advantage of being able to quickly process patient-specific information and match it to computerised decision rules or algorithms. This article discusses the benefits and limitations of using decision-support technology, which is becoming increasingly important as the use of health information technology systems becomes more common across healthcare.