Clinical decision support systems are quickly becoming essential tools for medical providers as the volume of available data increases alongside the responsibility to deliver value-based care.

NHS healthcare professionals face numerous barriers that significantly challenge their ability to deliver patient-centric and coordinated care.

High complexity cases, workplace burnout, clinical alert fatigue, and hesitancy to embrace digital solutions, have the potential to increase the risk of medical errors and risk patient safety.

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems can enable clinicians to rapidly respond to large repositories of data and support the decision-making process at the right time.

The importance of interoperability

“The ability to implement digital solutions within pre-existing IT systems, is a key factor which unlocks the potential for digital health and system wide rollouts,” explains James Bird Chief Nurse Information Officer (CNIO) at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have adopted the Elsevier Care Planning solution which can be integrated into the Electronic Health Record system (EHR) and easily adopted by clinicians across its five London hospitals.

The solution combines the patient story, approximately 300 evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and standardised assessments into one patient-centred plan of care across all care settings and disciplines.

James Bird highlighted the importance of implementing digital solutions that encourage the adoption of evidence-based practice.

“These can help reduce variation and enhance health outcomes throughout all care settings,” he says.

Partnering with third party healthcare digital clinical solution providers is a vital element of this process, bringing high-level benefits that help organisations navigate increasingly challenging clinical environments.

Ensuring consistent high-quality care

Staffing pressures, high workloads and an increased number of patients with comorbidities are commonplace in today’s clinical environments.

Care plans are vital resources for nursing, that facilitate evidence-based holistic care. The care planning solution that Imperial adopted integrates the patient’s story, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and standardised assessments into a single care plan, reducing fragmentation and preventing omissions of care.

An effective care plan can support the nursing workforce in acknowledging and improving productivity barriers by offering guidance and clarity. This enables clinicians to draw from a single body of evidence, reducing variation and positively influencing productivity.

Care plans support effective allocation of nursing resource – a vital way to improve patient outcomes and improve the care experience for all.

“The most effective CDS solutions align with the clinician’s workflow. Embedding solutions to support the scope of practice of each discipline and the interprofessional team, enhances consistency in care and promotes best clinical practice,” says James Bird.  

To achieve this, it is important for the clinicians’ needs to be considered during the design process to promote successful adoption and increase trust in the system.

Enhancing consistency in care

“It is of the utmost importance that digital solutions co-create the best places to give and receive care,” concludes James. “Partnering with digital solution providers such as Elsevier, assures integration with a well-established implementation and adoption methodology.”

To learn more about the care planning solution adopted by Imperial, please visit the Elsevier website.