Computer-based clinical decision support for general practitioners.

A GP makes many decisions within every consultation. A computer-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) is software designed to support this decision making. It matches individual patient characteristics to a computerized clinical knowledge base and then provides patient-specific assessments or recommendations to the clinician to support a decision that can relate to diagnosis, investigation, prognosis or treatment. CDSSs offers the potential to translate the most up to date and robust evidence into practice. An example would include a GP being prompted to use a clinical prediction rule for pharyngitis (such as the Centor score) through a CDSS integrated into the electronic health record, after typing the word ‘sore throat’, with suggested management options then being delivered to the GP.