Clinical Decision Support Systems

Integrating medical knowledge and advances into the clinical setting is often difficult due to the complexity of the involved algorithms and protocols. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) assist the clinician in applying new information to patient care through the analysis of patient-specific clinical variables. Many of these systems are used to enhance diagnostic efforts and include computer-based programs such as DxplainTM that provide extensive differential diagnoses based on clinical information entered by the clinician. Other forms of clinical decision support systems, including antibiotic management programs and anticoagulation dosing calculators, seek to prevent medical errors and improve patient safety.