The Impact of Clinical Decision Support on Health Disparities and the Digital Divide

OBJECTIVES

This literature review summarizes relevant studies from the last three years (2020-2022) related to clinical decision support (CDS) and CDS impact on health disparities and the digital divide. This survey identifies current trends and synthesizes evidence-based recommendations and considerations for future development and implementation of CDS tools.

METHODS

We conducted a search in PubMed for literature published between 2020 and 2022. Our search strategy was constructed as a combination of the MEDLINE®/PubMed® Health Disparities and Minority Health Search Strategy and relevant CDS MeSH terms and phrases. We then extracted relevant data from the studies, including priority population when applicable, domain of influence on the disparity being addressed, and the type of CDS being used. We also made note of when a study discussed the digital divide in some capacity and organized the comments into general themes through group discussion.

RESULTS

Our search yielded 520 studies, with 45 included at the conclusion of screening. The most frequent CDS type in this review was point-of-care alerts/reminders (33.3%). Health Care System was the most frequent domain of influence (71.1%), and Blacks/African Americans were the most frequently included priority population (42.2%). Throughout the literature, we found four general themes related to the technology divide: inaccessibility of technology, access to care, trust of technology, and technology literacy.This survey revealed the diversity of CDS being used to address health disparities and several barriers which may make CDS less effective or potentially harmful to certain populations. Regular examinations of literature that feature CDS and address health disparities can help to reveal new strategies and patterns for improving healthcare.

Data Science Implementation Trends in Nursing Practice: A Review of the 2021 Literature

OBJECTIVES

The goal of this work was to provide a review of the implementation of data science-driven applications focused on structural or outcome-related nurse-sensitive indicators in the literature in 2021. By conducting this review, we aim to inform readers of trends in the nursing indicators being addressed, the patient populations and settings of focus, and lessons and challenges identified during the implementation of these tools.

METHODS

We conducted a rigorous descriptive review of the literature to identify relevant research published in 2021. We extracted data on model development, implementation-related strategies and measures, lessons learned, and challenges and stakeholder involvement. We also assessed whether reports of data science application implementations currently follow the guidelines of the Developmental and Exploratory Clinical Investigations of DEcision support systems driven by AI (DECIDE-AI) framework.

RESULTS

Of 4,943 articles found in PubMed (NLM) and CINAHL (EBSCOhost), 11 were included in the final review and data extraction. Systems leveraging data science were developed for adult patient populations and were primarily deployed in hospital settings. The clinical domains targeted included mortality/deterioration, utilization/resource allocation, and hospital-acquired infections/COVID-19. The composition of development teams and types of stakeholders involved varied. Research teams more frequently reported on implementation methods than implementation results. Most studies provided lessons learned that could help inform future implementations of data science systems in health care.

CONCLUSION

In 2021, very few studies report on the implementation of data science-driven applications focused on structural- or outcome-related nurse-sensitive indicators. This gap in the sharing of implementation strategies needs to be addressed in order for these systems to be successfully adopted in health care settings.

Data Science Trends Relevant to Nursing Practice: A Rapid Review of the 2020 Literature

BACKGROUND

The term "data science" encompasses several methods, many of which are considered cutting edge and are being used to influence care processes across the world. Nursing is an applied science and a key discipline in health care systems in both clinical and administrative areas, making the profession increasingly influenced by the latest advances in data science. The greater informatics community should be aware of current trends regarding the intersection of nursing and data science, as developments in nursing practice have cross-professional implications.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to summarize the latest (calendar year 2020) research and applications of nursing-relevant patient outcomes and clinical processes in the data science literature.

METHODS

We conducted a rapid review of the literature to identify relevant research published during the year 2020. We explored the following 16 topics: (1) artificial intelligence/machine learning credibility and acceptance, (2) burnout, (3) complex care (outpatient), (4) emergency department visits, (5) falls, (6) health care-acquired infections, (7) health care utilization and costs, (8) hospitalization, (9) in-hospital mortality, (10) length of stay, (11) pain, (12) patient safety, (13) pressure injuries, (14) readmissions, (15) staffing, and (16) unit culture.

RESULTS

Of 16,589 articles, 244 were included in the review. All topics were represented by literature published in 2020, ranging from 1 article to 59 articles. Numerous contemporary data science methods were represented in the literature including the use of machine learning, neural networks, and natural language processing.

CONCLUSION

This review provides an overview of the data science trends that were relevant to nursing practice in 2020. Examinations of such literature are important to monitor the status of data science's influence in nursing practice.

Enhancing the use of EHR systems for pragmatic embedded research: lessons from the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory

OBJECTIVE

We identified challenges and solutions to using electronic health record (EHR) systems for the design and conduct of pragmatic research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Since 2012, the Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory has served as the resource coordinating center for 21 pragmatic clinical trial demonstration projects. The EHR Core working group invited these demonstration projects to complete a written semistructured survey and used an inductive approach to review responses and identify EHR-related challenges and suggested EHR enhancements.

RESULTS

We received survey responses from 20 projects and identified 21 challenges that fell into 6 broad themes: (1) inadequate collection of patient-reported outcome data, (2) lack of structured data collection, (3) data standardization, (4) resources to support customization of EHRs, (5) difficulties aggregating data across sites, and (6) accessing EHR data.

DISCUSSION

Based on these findings, we formulated 6 prerequisites for PCTs that would enable the conduct of pragmatic research: (1) integrate the collection of patient-centered data into EHR systems, (2) facilitate structured research data collection by leveraging standard EHR functions, usable interfaces, and standard workflows, (3) support the creation of high-quality research data by using standards, (4) ensure adequate IT staff to support embedded research, (5) create aggregate, multidata type resources for multisite trials, and (6) create re-usable and automated queries.

CONCLUSION

We are hopeful our collection of specific EHR challenges and research needs will drive health system leaders, policymakers, and EHR designers to support these suggestions to improve our national capacity for generating real-world evidence.

A thematic analysis to examine the feasibility of EHR-based clinical decision support for implementing Choosing Wisely ® guidelines

Objective

To identify important barriers and facilitators relating to the feasibility of implementing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) as clinical decision support (CDS).

Materials and Methods

We conducted a qualitative, thematic analysis of interviews from seven interviews with dyads (one clinical expert and one systems analyst) who discussed the feasibility of implementing 10 Choosing Wisely^® guidelines at their institutions. We conducted a content analysis to extract salient themes describing facilitators, challenges, and other feasibility considerations regarding implementing CPGs as CDS.

Results

We identified five themes: concern about data quality impacts implementation planning; the availability of data in a computable format is a primary factor for implementation feasibility; customized strategies are needed to mitigate uncertainty and ambiguity when translating CPGs to an electronic health record-based tool; misalignment of expected CDS with pre-existing clinical workflows impact implementation; and individual level factors of end-users must be considered when selecting and implementing CDS tools.

Discussion

The themes reveal several considerations for CPG as CDS implementations regarding data quality, knowledge representation, and sociotechnical issues. Guideline authors should be aware that using CDS to implement CPGs is becoming increasingly popular and should consider providing clear guidelines to aid implementation. The complex nature of CPG as CDS implementation necessitates a unified effort to overcome these challenges.

Conclusion

Our analysis highlights the importance of cooperation and co-development of standards, strategies, and infrastructure to address the difficulties of implementing CPGs as CDS. The complex interactions between the concepts revealed in the interviews necessitates the need that such work should not be conducted in silos. We also implore that implementers disseminate their experiences.

Data Science Methods for Nursing-Relevant Patient Outcomes and Clinical Processes: The 2019 Literature Year in Review

Data science continues to be recognized and used within healthcare due to the increased availability of large data sets and advanced analytics. It can be challenging for nurse leaders to remain apprised of this rapidly changing landscape. In this article, we describe our findings from a scoping literature review of papers published in 2019 that use data science to explore, explain, and/or predict 15 phenomena of interest to nurses. Fourteen of the 15 phenomena were associated with at least one paper published in 2019. We identified the use of many contemporary data science methods (eg, natural language processing, neural networks) for many of the outcomes. We found many studies exploring Readmissions and Pressure Injuries. The topics of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Acceptance, Burnout, Patient Safety, and Unit Culture were poorly represented. We hope that the studies described in this article help readers: (1) understand the breadth and depth of data science's ability to improve clinical processes and patient outcomes that are relevant to nurses and (2) identify gaps in the literature that are in need of exploration.

A Conceptual Framework of Data Readiness: The Contextual Intersection of Quality, Availability, Interoperability, and Provenance

BACKGROUND

Data readiness is a concept often used when referring to health information technology applications in the informatics disciplines, but it is not clearly defined in the literature. To avoid misinterpretations in research and implementation, a formal definition should be developed.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this research is to provide a conceptual definition and framework for the term data readiness that can be used to guide research and development related to data-based applications in health care.

METHODS

PubMed, the National Institutes of Health RePORTER, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, and Duke University Library databases for business and information sciences were queried for formal mentions of the term "data readiness." Manuscripts found in the search were reviewed, and relevant information was extracted, evaluated, and assimilated into a framework for data readiness.

RESULTS

Of the 264 manuscripts found in the database searches, 20 were included in the final synthesis to define data readiness. In these 20 manuscripts, the term data readiness was revealed to encompass the constructs of data quality, data availability, interoperability, and data provenance.

DISCUSSION

Based upon our review of the literature, we define data readiness as the application-specific intersection of data quality, data availability, interoperability, and data provenance. While these concepts are not new, the combination of these factors in a novel data readiness model may help guide future informatics research and implementation science.

CONCLUSION

This analysis provides a definition to guide research and development related to data-based applications in health care. Future work should be done to validate this definition, and to apply the components of data readiness to real-world applications so that specific metrics may be developed and disseminated.

Measuring implementation feasibility of clinical decision support alerts for clinical practice recommendations

OBJECTIVE

The study sought to describe key features of clinical concepts and data required to implement clinical practice recommendations as clinical decision support (CDS) tools in electronic health record systems and to identify recommendation features that predict feasibility of implementation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using semistructured interviews, CDS implementers and clinician subject matter experts from 7 academic medical centers rated the feasibility of implementing 10 American College of Emergency Physicians Choosing Wisely Recommendations as electronic health record-embedded CDS and estimated the need for additional data collection. Ratings were combined with objective features of the guidelines to develop a predictive model for technical implementation feasibility.

RESULTS

A linear mixed model showed that the need for new data collection was predictive of lower implementation feasibility. The number of clinical concepts in each recommendation, need for historical data, and ambiguity of clinical concepts were not predictive of implementation feasibility.

CONCLUSIONS

The availability of data and need for additional data collection are essential to assess the feasibility of CDS implementation. Authors of practice recommendations and guidelines can enable organizations to more rapidly assess data availability and feasibility of implementation by including operational definitions for required data.

Machine Learning Algorithms to Predict Mortality and Allocate Palliative Care for Older Patients With Hip Fracture

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate a machine learning model designed to predict mortality for Medicare beneficiaries aged >65 years treated for hip fracture in Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs).

DESIGN

Retrospective design/cohort analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility-Patient Assessment Instrument data.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A total of 17,140 persons admitted to Medicare-certified IRFs in 2015 following hospitalization for hip fracture.

MEASURES

Patient characteristics include sociodemographic (age, gender, race, and social support) and clinical factors (functional status at admission, chronic conditions) and IRF length of stay. Outcomes were 30-day and 1-year all-cause mortality. We trained and evaluated 2 classification models, logistic regression and a multilayer perceptron (MLP), to predict the probability of 30-day and 1-year mortality and evaluated the calibration, discrimination, and precision of the models.

RESULTS

For 30-day mortality, MLP performed well [acc = 0.74, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) = 0.76, avg prec = 0.10, slope = 1.14] as did logistic regression (acc = 0.78, AUROC = 0.76, avg prec = 0.09, slope = 1.20). For 1-year mortality, the performances were similar for both MLP (acc = 0.68, AUROC = 0.75, avg prec = 0.32, slope = 0.96) and logistic regression (acc = 0.68, AUROC = 0.75, avg prec = 0.32, slope = 0.95).

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

A scoring system based on logistic regression may be more feasible to run in current electronic medical records. But MLP models may reduce cognitive burden and increase ability to calibrate to local data, yielding clinical specificity in mortality prediction so that palliative care resources may be allocated more effectively.

The influence of the learning health system to address the COVID-19 pandemic: An examination of early literature

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded immediate response from healthcare systems around the world. The learning health system (LHS) was created with rapid uptake of the newest evidence in mind, making it essential in the face of a pandemic. The goal of this review is to gain knowledge on the initial impact of the LHS on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

PubMed, Scopus and the Duke University library search tool were used to identify current literature regarding the intersection of the LHS and the COIVD-19 pandemic. Articles were reviewed for their purpose, findings and relation to each component of the LHS.

RESULTS

Twelve articles were included in the review. All stages of the LHS were addressed from this sample. Most articles addressed some component of interoperability. Articles that interpreted data unique to COVID-19 and demonstrated specific tools and interventions were least common.

CONCLUSIONS

Gaps in interoperability are well known and unlikely to be solved in the coming months. Collaboration between health systems, researchers, governments and professional societies is needed to support a robust LHS which grants the ability to rapidly adapt to global emergencies.

A Closer Look at the "Right" Format for Clinical Decision Support: Methods for Evaluating a Storyboard BestPractice Advisory

(1) Background: The five rights of clinical decision support (CDS) are a well-known framework for planning the nuances of CDS, but recent advancements have given us more options to modify the format of the alert. One-size-fits-all assessments fail to capture the nuance of different BestPractice Advisory (BPA) formats. To demonstrate a tailored evaluation methodology, we assessed a BPA after implementation of Storyboard for changes in alert fatigue, behavior influence, and task completion; (2) Methods: Data from 19 weeks before and after implementation were used to evaluate differences in each domain. Individual clinics were evaluated for task completion and compared for changes pre- and post-redesign; (3) Results: The change in format was correlated with an increase in alert fatigue, a decrease in erroneous free text answers, and worsened task completion at a system level. At a local level, however, 14% of clinics had improved task completion; (4) Conclusions: While the change in BPA format was correlated with decreased performance, the changes may have been driven primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework and metrics proposed can be used in future studies to assess the impact of new CDS formats. Although the changes in this study seemed undesirable in aggregate, some positive changes were observed at the level of individual clinics. Personalized implementations of CDS tools based on local need should be considered.

Emergency Department Clinician Perspectives on the Data Availability to Implement Clinical Decision Support Tools for Five Clinical Practice Guidelines

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) often serve as the knowledge base for clinical decision support (CDS). While CPGs are rigorously created by medical professional societies, the concepts in each guideline may not be sufficient for translation into CDS applications. In addition, clinicians' perceptions of these concepts may differ greatly, affecting the implementation and impact of CDS within an organization. Five guidelines developed by the American College of Emergency Physicians were systematically explored, generating fifty-one unique clinical concepts. These concepts were presented to two nurses and two physicians, whom were asked to assess and comment on the capture of each clinical concept in the electronic health record (EHR) and the subsequent availability of the data for CDS. Nurses and physicians showed differing perceptions of data availability. These differing perceptions may influence an organizational approach to developing and implementing CDS, potentially informing our understanding of why CDS may not achieve the intended impact.