Improving utilization of clinical decision support systems by reducing alert fatigue: strategies and recommendations

Mohamed Khalifa*, Ibrahim Zabani

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contributionpeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are designed to help making clinical decisions regarding the management of patients. CDS alerts can save lives but frequent insignificant ones might cause alert fatigue. Studies discuss that 33% to 96% of clinical alerts are ignored. We categorized best evidence based strategies, to reduce alert fatigue and improve CDSS utilization, into five major areas. Classify alerts in to three main levels; severe, moderate and minor then develop a core set of critical drug to drug interactions. Classify alerts into active and passive groups, where only critical alerts should be interruptive actively while less critical alerts should be non-interruptive to the user. Conduct regular user training on new improvements. Keep monitoring alert response rates and keep ongoing research and improvement efforts. Provide systems with automated feedback and learning mechanisms where frequently ignored and justified alerts could be moved automatically from the active interruptive to the passive non-interruptive model.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUnifying the applications and foundations of biomedical and health informatics
EditorsJohn Mantas, Arie Hasman, Parisis Gallos, Aikaterini Kolokathi, Mowafa S. Househ
PublisherIOS Press
Pages51-54
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781614996644
ISBN (Print)9781614996637
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event14th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2016 - Athens, Greece
Duration: 1 Jul 20163 Jul 2016

Publication series

NameStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume226
ISSN (Print)0926-9630
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8365

Other

Other14th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2016
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityAthens
Period1/07/163/07/16

Keywords

  • Alert Fatigue
  • Clinical Decision Support Systems
  • Hospitals
  • Improving Utilization

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