Clinical Decision Support Systems for Diagnosis in Primary Care: A Scoping Review

Taku Harada, Taiju Miyagami, Kotaro Kunitomo and Taro Shimizu
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Taku Harada: Department of General Medicine, Showa University Koto Toyosu Hospital, Tokyo 135-8577, Japan
Taiju Miyagami: Department of General Medicine, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
Kotaro Kunitomo: Department of General Medicine, Kumamoto Medical Center, Kumamoto 860-0008, Japan
Taro Shimizu: Department of Diagnostic and Generalist Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University Hospital, Tochigi 321-0297, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: Diagnosis is one of the crucial tasks performed by primary care physicians; however, primary care is at high risk of diagnostic errors due to the characteristics and uncertainties associated with the field. Prevention of diagnostic errors in primary care requires urgent action, and one of the possible methods is the use of health information technology. Its modes such as clinical decision support systems (CDSS) have been demonstrated to improve the quality of care in a variety of medical settings, including hospitals and primary care centers, though its usefulness in the diagnostic domain is still unknown. We conducted a scoping review to confirm the usefulness of the CDSS in the diagnostic domain in primary care and to identify areas that need to be explored. Search terms were chosen to cover the three dimensions of interest: decision support systems, diagnosis, and primary care. A total of 26 studies were included in the review. As a result, we found that the CDSS and reminder tools have significant effects on screening for common chronic diseases; however, the CDSS has not yet been fully validated for the diagnosis of acute and uncommon chronic diseases. Moreover, there were few studies involving non-physicians.

Keywords: clinical decision support systems; diagnostic accuracy; health information technology; primary care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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