Decision Support Tools in Adult Long-term Care Facilities: Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Long-Term Care Research

Background:

• Digital innovations have significant potential to address staff shortages and enhance care quality in the care home sector.
• Understanding the current use, purpose, development, and data requirements of clinical decision support tools (CDSTs) in long-term care facilities is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze studies evaluating CDSTs in long-term care facilities.
• To assess the purpose, users, development evidence, application, effectiveness, and data types of these tools.
• To inform a roadmap for digital innovation in long-term care.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature review was conducted.
• Searches included studies published between January 1, 2010, and July 21, 2021.
• Databases searched were PubMed, Cochrane Library, and British Nursing Index, focusing on CDSTs in long-term care.

Main Results:

• Seventeen papers were included, evaluating CDSTs for various conditions including medication management, pressure ulcers, dementia, falls, and infections.
• The studies generally indicate that CDSTs can improve care delivery and health outcomes.
• Evaluated applications include medication management, pressure ulcer prevention, dementia care, falls prevention, hospitalization risk, malnutrition, UTIs, and COVID-19.

Conclusions:

• CDSTs demonstrate potential for positive impacts on care and outcomes in long-term facilities.
• Variability in results is attributed to diverse tool types, users, contexts, and limited validation.
• Clearer definition of interventions is needed for effective implementation and validation of CDSTs.