Summary
Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to examine past and present medical decision support
systems and the environment in which they operate and to propose specific research
tracks that improve integration and adoption of these systems in today’s health care
systems.
Methods: In preamble, we examine the objectives, decision models, and performances of past
decision support systems.
Results: Medical decision support tools were essentially formulated from a technical capability
perspective and this view has met limited adoption and slowed down new development
as well as integration of these important systems into patient management work flows
and clinical information systems. The science base of these systems needs to include
evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines and the paradigms need to
be extended to include a collaborative provider model, the users and the organization
perspectives. The availability of patient record and medical terminology standards
is essential to the dissemination of decision support systems and so is their integration
into the care process.
Conclusion: To build new decision support systems based on practice guidelines and taking into
account users preferences, we do not so much advocate new technological solutions
but rather suggest that technology is not enough to ensure successful adoption by
the users, the integration into practice workflow, and consequently, the realisation
of improved health care outcomes.
Keywords
Medical decision support systems - Evidence-based Medicine - Clinical Practice Guidelines
- Medical practice - shared decision-making - patient empowerment - technology adoption
barriers and drivers.