title: Development and evaluation of a PDA-based decision support system for pediatric depression screening.
abstract: Depression is under recognized in a variety of pediatric settings. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and initial evaluation of a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based decision support system (DSS) for pediatric depression screening in ages 8 to 18 years of age by pediatric advanced practice nurse (APN) students. Three aspects are described: selection of depression screening instrument; integration of the instrument into the PDA; and quantitative (usage) and qualitative (focus group) evaluation. Only one third of eligible patients were screened. Twenty percent of those screened were identified as at risk for mood disorder. The barriers to screening identified through focus groups included a lack of time, knowledge, intervention protocol, referral resources, PDA usability issues, preceptor motivation and comfort, as well as perceived or real cultural barriers. Suggestions for educational, research, and interventions to integrate clinical based PDA-based screening are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University School of Nursing, Department of Biomedical Informatics, New York, New York 10032, USA. rmj4@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Ritamarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Penélope
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Buschman
authors.forename: Mosely
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaszar
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Honig
authors.forename: Eneida
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mendonca
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bakken
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000465:Algorithms; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D002648:Child; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010372:Pediatrics; D013338:Students, Nursing