Clinical Decision Support
Clinical Decision Support
Clinical Decision Support (pronunciation: klin-i-kəl di-ˈsi-zhən sə-ˈpȯrt) is a significant concept in the field of Health Informatics. It refers to the process of aiding healthcare professionals in making decisions about patient care.
Etymology
The term "Clinical Decision Support" is derived from the English language. "Clinical" refers to the observation and treatment of actual patients rather than theoretical or laboratory studies. "Decision" is derived from the Latin word "decidere," which means to decide. "Support" comes from the Old French "suporter," which means to bear or sustain.
Definition
Clinical Decision Support (CDS) provides clinicians, staff, patients, or other individuals with knowledge and person-specific information, intelligently filtered or presented at appropriate times, to enhance health and health care. CDS encompasses a variety of tools to enhance decision-making in the clinical workflow. These tools include Computerized alerts and reminders to care providers and patients, Clinical guidelines, condition-specific order sets, focused patient data reports and summaries, documentation templates, diagnostic support, and contextually relevant reference information, among other tools.
Related Terms
- Health Informatics: The interdisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption, and application of IT-based innovations in healthcare services delivery, management, and planning.
- Computerized alerts and reminders: These are notifications generated by a computerized system, designed to prompt healthcare professionals to remember information or actions necessary for patient care.
- Clinical guidelines: These are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific clinical circumstances.
See Also
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