Introduction
Nowadays, advanced technologies are actively used in various fields of studies and human’s activities. Medical practice is not an exception, as there are a number of tools incorporated into the healthcare system through data technologies. These technologies contribute to the Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), which aim to assist healthcare professionals in the identification of illness and treatment of patients (Brown, Patrick, Camp, & Pasupathy, 2013). In this essay, the examples of CDSS in the areas of reasoning approach, application scope, and practical utility will be presented.
Examples of Using
CDSS is a relatively new tool that is used in medicine. In the last century, the main means for decision support were medication dosing support and order facilitators (Wright et al., 2011). However, nowadays, there are a number of areas where CDSS are actively used. Thus, CDSS is successfully utilized in the field of reasoning approach, where a diagnosis is made based on previous incidents. For example, CDSS, in this case, can be used as a database, which contains information on different medical files or symptoms. It helps to check if this is a new case or similar to those that happened in the past. Using this information, healthcare professionals can make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
Also, CDSS can be used in the area of application scope. Application scope protects one application from the impact of another application. Thus, CDSS in application scope enables professionals to prevent prescribing treatment that may negatively affect other organs. For example, if an individual has gastritis, CDSS is used to determine if the patient has any heart diseases to make sure that prescribed medication will not deteriorate the heart conditions of the person.
CDSS in the area of practical utility, first of all, implies the ability of healthcare professionals to use available data and knowledge in an effective way. For example, it is not always clear what kind of treatment should be prescribed for a patient even if there is plenty of information about similar incidents in the database. Professionals should always analyze all the possible options for treatment and choose the most effective one.
Conclusion
Therefore, CDSS is a new tool that is used in medicine to achieve better results in patients’ treatment. Comparing all the described approaches, it can be concluded that all of them can bring positive effects in the medical field. Therefore, CDSS in areas of different approaches should be used as it saves time and helps both patients and healthcare professionals in the process of disease treatment.
References
Brown, G., Patrick, T., & Pasupathy, K. (2013). Health informatics: a systems perspective. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Wright, A., Sittig, D., Ash, J., Feblowitz, J., Meltzer, S., McMullen, C., Middleton, B. (2011). Development and evaluation of a comprehensive clinical decision support taxonomy: Comparison of front-end tools in commercial and internally developed electronic health record systems. Journal of the AHIMA, 18(3), 232–42.