Lessons Learned from Implementing and Evaluating Computerized Decision Support Systems

A potentially effective IT intervention to implement guidelines and evidence based practice consists of the use of computerized decision support systems (CDSS). CDSSs aim at providing meaningful feedback to professionals in order to positively influence their behavior. Intensive care medicine, with its heavy reliance on information and the advanced information infrastructure in intensive care units (ICUs), is an attractive specialty and environment for applying and investigating CDSSs. In particular, antibiotic prescription, control of the tidal volumes in the lungs, and control of glucose levels in the blood form hot topics in intensive care medicine and provide opportunities for decision support applications. However, issues pertaining to the design, implementation, critical success factors, as well as the evaluation of CDSSs are largely still open, especially in these domains. This work describes important issues learned from designing and implementing CDSSs in these domains based on our literature reviews and lessons learned from conducting various trials in our ICU.