Summary

Objectives: To review the recent research literature in clinical decision support systems (CDSS). Methods: A review of recent literature was undertaken, focussing on CDSS evaluation, consumers and public health, the impact of translational bioinformatics on CDSS design, and CDSS safety. Results: In recent years, researchers have concentrated much less on the development of decision technologies, and have focussed more on the impact of CDSS in the clinical world. Recent work highlights that traditional process measures of CDSS effectiveness, such as document relevance are poor proxy measures for decision outcomes. Measuring the dynamics of decision making, for example via decision velocity, may produce a more accurate picture of effectiveness. Another trend is the broadening of user base for CDSS beyond front line clinicians. Consumers are now a major focus for biomedical informatics, as are public health officials, tasked with detecting and managing disease outbreaks at a health system, rather than individual patient level. Bioinformatics is also changing the nature of CDSS. Apart from personalisation of therapy recommendations, translational bioinformatics is creating new challenges in the interpretation of the meaning of genetic data. Finally, there is much recent interest in the safety and effectiveness of computerised physician order entry (CPOE) systems, given that prescribing and administration errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Of note, there is still much controversy surrounding the contention that poorly designed, implemented or used CDSS may actually lead to harm. Conclusions: CDSS research remains an active and evolving area of research, as CDSS penetrate more widely beyond their traditional domain into consumer decision support, and as decisions become more complex, for example by involving sequence level genetic data.