Electronic Health Records, Best Practice Advisory Alerts, and the User Interface in the Intensive Care Unit

Best Practice Advisories (BPAs) are clinical decision support tools integrated into the patient's electronic health record to assist registered nurses. They provide reminders and highlight patterns based on clinical assessment findings. To analyze their use at a hospital in Southern Arizona, the AUTOS (Artifact, User, Task, Organization, and Situation) framework was used, which follows a human-centered design approach. Although BPAs offer significant support, they can disrupt critical care nurses' workflows. In 2023, this Southern Arizona hospital reported more than 36 unique BPAs, resulting in an average of 783 alerts for critical care nurses in the intensive care unit each month.