Question

1. Clinical Decision Support Systems

Things to know:

What is it used for?

How does it work and where does the data come from (sources)?

What are its benefits?

What are its drawbacks?

2. Meaningful Use

Things to know:

What are the requirements?

Who do they apply to?

What are the objectives of these requirements?

What problems have been encountered?

3. Health Information Exchange

Things to know:

What is it used for?

How does it work and where does the data come from (sources)?

What are its benefits?

What are its drawbacks?

4. Data Privacy and Security

Things to know:

What legal requirements apply to protected health information?

What methods and technologies are used to protect data?

Find one example from the news where the privacy and security of protected health information was violated. Be ready to discuss this incident in your answer.

Answer 1

ANSWER 1) A clinical decision support system is a system that provides the health care personnel i.e clinicians,staff and patients with knowledge and person-specific information that is filtered and available at appropriate time to promote health and health care. It enhances decision making in clinical workflow.

ANSWER 2) The clinical decision support system consist of tools that includes computerized alerts and reminders to care providers and patients, clinical guidelines, condition specific order sets, patient data reports and summary, documentation templates, diagnostic support and relevant reference information. The clinical decision support system requires access to healthcare data and knowledge that are stored in data and knowledge bases. The clinical decisionsupport system obtains data from practitioners and the electronic health records. These data is analyzed and integrated with knowledge from domain experts.

ANSWER 3) The benefits of clinical decision support system are:

• Increases quality of care and enhances health outcomes.
• Avoid errors and adverse events.
• Improves work efficiency and is cost benefits.
• Results in patient satisfaction.
• Promotes patient safety.
• Improves clinical decision making.

ANSWER 4) The drawbacks of using clinical decision support system are:

• Has potential deskilling effect.
• Can be perceived as a threat to clinical judgement.
• It is often inflexible.
• Leads to over- reliance on software, limits clinicians freedom to think.
• There is lack of accepted evaluation standards.
• Maintainence and training cost are high.
• Uncertain and untested ethical and legal status