Effect on Professional Practice and Health Care Outcomes of Computerized Evidence-based Information System and Clinical Decision Support: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Orthopaedics (GR-2009-1606736)

Implementing an evidence-based computerized decision support system linked to electronic health records to improve care for cancer patients.

Short Title/Acronym ONCO-CODES Protocol Code IRST100.23

Rationale:

Computerized decision support systems (CDSSs) are computer programs that provide clinicians, staff, patients, or other individuals with person-specific, actionable recommendations or management options that are intelligently filtered or presented at appropriate times to enhance health and health care. CDSSs might be integrated with patient electronic health records (EHRs) and evidence-based knowledge. The Investigators designed a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of patient-specific, point-of-care reminders generated by the Medilogy Decision Support System (MediDSS) on clinical practice and the quality of care in the Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS. The Investigators hypothesize that MediDSS reminders can increase clinician adherence to guidelines and, eventually, improve the quality of care offered to hospitalized patient. The adoption of CDSSs is likely to increase across healthcare systems due to growing concerns about the quality of medical care and discrepancy between real and ideal practice, continuous calls for a meaningful use of health information technology, and the increasing use of and familiarity with advanced technology among new generations of physicians.

Study Design: