Clinical Support Software May Aid Medication Tasks in the OR

FRIDAY, May 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A perioperative medication-related clinical decision support (CDS) software prototype may reduce the time taken to complete tasks, according to a study published online May 16 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Karen C. Nanji, M.D., M.P.H., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues compared the usability of a CDS software prototype developed for use in the operating room with the current standard electronic health record medication administration and documentation workflow. Forty participants were randomly assigned to complete seven simulation tasks in either the CDS group, who completed the tasks using the CDS, or the control group, who completed tasks using the standard medication workflow with retrospective manual documentation (20 participants in each group).

The researchers found that the mean total task time was less for the CDS group than the control group, with a mean difference of 107.6 seconds. Fewer mouse clicks were used by the CDS group versus the control group (mean difference, 29.6 clicks). Compared with the control group, the CDS group had fewer pixels traveled on the computer monitor (mean difference, 49.8 thousand pixels).

“These results suggest that perioperative CDS could improve clinician efficiency and quality of patient care, while giving clinicians helpful information, such as patient-specific weight-, age-, and renal-based dosing at the point of care,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the health information technology industry.

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