Abstract
Background: Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) provide healthcare providers with suggestions by evaluating the situation and organizing the decision-making process to reduce their mental workload so they can make decisions more effortlessly and safely in emergencies and critical-safety situations. This article reviews the applications of CDSSs and the benefits that these systems bring to healthcare settings.
Methods: Scopus, PubMed/Medline, and Web of Science were selected to search high-quality CDSS-related journal articles published in English from 2000 to 2022. Two reviewers, under the supervision of the third reviewer, screened and analyzed the search results based on the inclusion criteria.
Results: The required information was extracted from 78 included articles, and it was found that CDSSs have been exploited for four primary purposes, namely, accurate diagnoses, early prevention of diseases, management of clinical/medical processes, and prescriptions.
Conclusion: CDSS has many benefits for each of the four applications, the most important of which is to improve patient safety. Generally, the results showed that DSSs in healthcare can positively affect medical decisions by reducing possible errors and putting forward specific medical suggestions for each patient.