French researchers conducted a systematic review of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies to identify and quantify the barriers and facilitators primary care providers (PCPs) experience when using clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) – software designed to facilitate clinical decision-making. The greatest barrier to using CDSSs was an increased workload through use of CDSS. Human and organizational factors also had negative impacts on CDSS use, whereas technological factors had a neutral impact. The net benefits dimension of the Human Organization Technology framework the authors used to study the barriers and facilitators had a positive impact, including CDSSs’ potential to improve quality of care, particularly for preventive care. Although PCPs find benefit from and support the potential effectiveness of CDSSs in improving the quality and safety of care, they also highlight their lack of efficiency due to increased workload. The authors concluded that CDSS developers need to better address human and organizational issues, in addition to technological challenges. They also proposed a list of 11 features of CDSSs expected to improve their usability in primary care.
Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of Clinical Decision Support Systems in Primary Care: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review
Pierre-Yves Meunier, MD, et al
Collège Universitaire de Médecine Générale and Research on Healthcare Performance (RESHAPE), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
Permanent link
Journal
The Annals of Family Medicine
