Usability of a Human Factors-based Clinical Decision Support in the Emergency Department: Lessons Learned for Design and Implementation

Clinical decision support can improve patient safety; however, the acceptance and use of CDS has faced challenges. Following a human-centered design process, this study from HIP Investigator Dr. Brian Patterson designed a CDS to support pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnosis in the ED. They conducted a survey of ED physicians to evaluate the usability and use of the HF-based CDS. 

Physicians agreed that diagnosing PE is a major problem and risk scores can support the PE diagnostic process. Usability of the CDS was reported as high, both in the experimental setting and the real clinical setting. However, use of the CDS was low. The study identified several barriers to the CDS use in the clinical environment, in particular a lack of workflow integration.