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The United States healthcare industry has three major simultaneous developments in knowledge management and the use of information technology (IT). The first is in data collection, i.e., the adoption and "meaningful use" of electronic health records (EHRs). Second is data sharing as exemplified by health information exchanges (HIEs). Finally, there is data analysis as seen in enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and clinical decision support system (CDSS) tools.
A CDSS supports clinicians in making evidence-based decisions and diagnoses by providing scenario-pertinent information from patient data in the EHR system. A CDSS can aid the physician in asking questions that are specific to a patient's health, helping avoid errors of omission. A CDSS helps to better utilize the data and intelligence in an EHR system. A CDSS that is configured properly can help to avoid adverse events-for example, by predicting possible harmful drug interactions.
With the continuing push toward implementing EHR systems, more CDSS use is sure to follow-some say to the ultimate extent in which a patient will be dealing at home with a super-duper CDSS in the form of a holographic doctor. No waiting! Your virtual doctor would possess all the collated experience and knowledge about your health, prescribing the right treatments and medications. Wait. Didn't they do that already on one of the "Star Trek" TV shows? Although I think that the "Star Trek" holographic doctor was confined to a sick bay, it was always ready to serve. Maybe in the future, modern houses will include a sick bay and virtual medical staff. Future child: "I don't feel so good. I should stay home from school today." Future parent: "Well why don't you go and log into Sick Bay and see what the doctor says?"
While we're not there yet, maybe we are on the path to a home sick bay staffed with holograms. An estimated 41% of hospitals that have an EHR system also have a CDSS in place.
There are two general types of CDSSs. One is knowledge-based, much like what I've just described. In essence, such a CDSS is a huge scannable database with a clinical case-based reasoning system. The other type is more of a neural network computing effort. Also known as artificial intelligence, this second type of CDSS involves...