Computerised decision-support tools in diabetes care: hurdles to implementation.
In this Diabetes Information Technology & WebWatch column hurdles to the use of computerised decision-support tools in clinical diabetes care will be considered. The clinical background with respect to insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes mellitus and the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial is reviewed, and an overview is given of various computer applications. The use of decision-support tools is discussed, and the importance of identifying the proposed user, e.g., health-care professional, student, or patient, is highlighted. Validation/evaluation issues are considered as important topics that remain to be properly addressed for many decision-support prototypes. The column concludes by highlighting that in this era of evidence-based medicine well-conducted, rigorous evaluation and validation studies are required to inform decisions about whether or not to make use of current computerised decision-support prototypes.
Lehmann
Eldon D
ED
Academic Department of Radiology, Bart's and the London NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom. info-www@2aida.org
D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D017216:Telemedicine; D014584:User-Computer Interface