EFFECT OF CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS ON QUALITY OF CARE BY NURSES

The aim of this review was to examine to what extent the need for nursing specific Clinical Decision Support Systems has been realised in terms of progress in research on this topic, areas of such researches and the findings of these researches. The topic title itself was used as the search term in Google Scholar for different time frames and only papers which have nursing CDSS in their titles were selected. This process yielded 32 papers, which were listed and described briefly. From the listed and described 32 papers, some trends on types of papers and assessment results were tabulated in terms of number of papers in each category and the pertinent references. Three tables were obtained in this manner. The maximum number of papers dealt with evaluation or effects of nursing CDSS. There were nine reviews on the topic spread over time. Seven papers had factors or barriers as their topics. Notably, only one paper dealt with use of mobile devices in nursing CDSS in spite of the fact that use of smart phones is rapidly increasing in every part of life. While 14 papers assessed CDSS positively, seven assessed it negatively. Another seven were neutral in assessment or there was no clear statement on this. Three papers dealt with scope for nursing CDSS, which should prompt more research on this. Reviews were mostly used. There were only two papers which used high quality RCT, The findings of the review are discussed using appropriate arguments and scope for future research has been indicated at each point and listed at the end. Some limitations of this review have also been listed.