Safe and equitable use of clinical decision support systems (21 September 2024)

Summary

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems, which aim to support healthcare professionals in making more efficient and evidence-based decisions, are now prevalent in clinical practice. Although many CDS tools, such as clinical calculators and automated order sets, involve low complexity, other CDS systems incorporated into electronic health records are increasingly sophisticated, deployed in time-sensitive settings and built on artificial intelligence (AI) or machine-learning models. This Lancet article looks at the reasons why CDS tools might pose unclear or unacceptable risks to patient safety and equitable care.