Clinical Decision Making In Nursing
Kortteisto, Komulainen, Mäkelä, Kunnamo, and Kaila (2012) stated that since the dawn of information technology in healthcare, the ultimate goals have been to help clinicians in their decision making process to prevent errors, to maximize efficiency, to enable evidence-based care, and ultimately to improve health and healthcare. Gradually, tools that support the clinical decision making process have been generally designed as clinical decision support systems (CDSS). According to O'Connor et al. (2011), the informatics nurse specialist (INS) understand the concepts and technology of nursing information management and can provide operational and strategic benefits to nursing organizations, such as seen through the implementation of the electronic
health record (EHR). Furthermore, the CDSS allows providers using the EHR to make the soundest clinical decisions based upon the data contained in the patient chart. When the data in a patient chart is compared to databases of clinically verified information, errors can be prevented. In the disease management components of the EHR, additional decision support tools may exist to provide information as to the appropriate care for patients who are chronically ill. For example, diabetic patients should have nutritional counseling and routine foot exams and eye exams, as well as lab results to monitor their condition. The CDSS allow the EHR to compare care provided in the past with care required moving forward, creating a care schedule for the patient to achieve optimal outcomes (O'Connor et al., 2011).
health record (EHR). Furthermore, the CDSS allows providers using the EHR to make the soundest clinical decisions based upon the data contained in the patient chart. When the data in a patient chart is compared to databases of clinically verified information, errors can be prevented. In the disease management components of the EHR, additional decision support tools may exist to provide information as to the appropriate care for patients who are chronically ill. For example, diabetic patients should have nutritional counseling and routine foot exams and eye exams, as well as lab results to monitor their condition. The CDSS allow the EHR to compare care provided in the past with care required moving forward, creating a care schedule for the patient to achieve optimal outcomes (O'Connor et al., 2011).