Educate, Collaborate, Share And Network On HIMSS Clinical Decision Support Wiki

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 31 Jul 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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New wiki supports collaboration and accelerates progress on using clinical decision support for healthcare performance improvement

Many organizations struggle to successfully deploy clinical decision support (CDS), a goal that takes on new importance since effective clinical decision support is a critical component of 'meaningful EMR use,' as required for stimulus funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Now, to help realize the promise of clinical decision support to enable meaningful EMR use and widely improve care delivery and outcomes, the HIMSS Clinical Decision Support Task Force is opening its CDS Wiki to the public.

CDS interventions provide patients and clinicians with information needed to support care decisions. Examples include alerts about dangerous drug interactions or allergies, order sets that help ensure appropriate tests and treatments are ordered, and reference information to answer questions about drugs and diseases. When implemented properly, CDS is a powerful tool for improving care quality, safety and cost.

"The CDS Task Force and wiki were natural outgrowths of an initiative that culminated in the recent publication of Improving medication use and outcomes with CDS: a step by step guide," said Jerry Osheroff, MD, chair of the HIMSS CDS Task Force, editor-in-chief of the new guide, and chief clinical informatics officer for Thomson Reuters. "Scores of individuals and organizations created this guide through the use of tools that support group efforts, such as wikis. So far, the launch of the new book has been very successful; developing and opening up our CDS Task Force wiki is the next stage of this collaborative work."

The CDS Task Force, anchored by six health systems consisting of 50 hospitals, initially established the wiki as a closed forum. Initial efforts have focused on synthesizing best practices for implementing CDS to address specific clinical performance improvement imperatives - starting with venous thromboembolism prevention. Now, the task force hopes to engage additional participants in this activity and other task force efforts. These includclarifying how implementers can apply CDS to achieving meaningful use; for example, by highlighting and enhancing pertinent guidance in Improving medication use and outcomes, and other resources.

"By engaging interested stakeholders in the wiki, we can help create a central dynamic resource for the sharing of CDS lessons learned and leverage the value of the electronic health record in providing optimal patient care," said David Collins, CPHIMS, FHIMSS; Mr. Collins is HIMSS director, healthcare information systems.

To join the HIMSS CDS Wiki: Anyone interested in becoming part of the HIMSS CDS wiki community can visit http://himssclinicaldecisionsupportwiki.pbworks.com/ to join.

Visit the HIMSS Store to learn more about the new CDS book: Improving Medication Use and Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Source
HIMSS