Table 2 Potential outcome measures for the evaluation of alerts in CDS
Suggested outcome measure | Comments |
|---|---|
Patient harm | This entails identifying patient harms specific to the prescribing process that may be prevented by CDS; and then establishing their relative importance. |
Length of stay in hospital | This measure has the benefit of being easily measured, but depends on several factors other than the quality of prescribing. |
Mortality | Again, this measure has the benefit of being easily measured, but depends on several factors other than the quality of prescribing. |
Quality measures | The National Quality Forum in the USA has developed quality measurements and test cases in order to capture medical decision making and a direct link between decision process and quality of care [52]. |
Measures of clinical improvement | Some examples include decreased fever and falling white cell count. |
Medication errors [53] | It is difficult to identify and often to define actual medication errors and perhaps even more challenging to establish the potential harm caused by these errors. |
Costs | These may be an appropriate outcome measure, but the workshop’s view was that the primary aim of CDS is to minimize harm, not cost. |