Decision support systems are a subset of business intelligence that aims to assist
organizations in making informed business decisions based on massive amounts of
analyzed data. This form of interactive system assists organizations with planning,
operating, and managing their business by weighing the uncertainties and tradeoffs of
making certain decisions. The decisions a healthcare provider makes can drastically
change the outcome of patient’s treatment. Decision support systems have been integrated
into healthcare delivery by linking computer assisted decision support systems into the
organizations electronic healthcare records system. The decision support system will
utilize algorithms and evidence-based knowledge to assist healthcare professionals with
making decisions related to patient care. This has been shown to improve the quality of
patient care by reducing errors in healthcare decision making. The decision support
systems as the name suggests supports healthcare professionals, but it is still the
responsibility of the caregiver to make the best decision for the best possible outcome for
each patient. Decision support systems have shown a lot of promise in reducing the cost of
healthcare delivery by reducing length of stay, emergency department visits, and primary
care consultations. Healthcare professionals are also able to access their decision support
system on a variety of devices including their cell phone, computer, or tablet.
Technological diffusion is broadly defined as the process by which the market for a
new technology change over time, resulting in production and usage patterns of new
products and manufacturing processes. New technology has saved countless lives in the
healthcare industry, but it comes with some significant issues especially cost. Many
companies in the private sector specialize in researching and developing new medical
technologies. Research and development are very expensive, and this cost is passed on to
the healthcare organizations and eventually patients when it is eventually adopted. Many
new technologies that are developed are ineffective or redundant and do not improve
health outcomes. It is also difficult for healthcare organizations to identify if a new
technology will be effective until it has already been adopted. These new technologies as a
whole lead to an increase in healthcare costs despite some innovations replacing outdated
and expensive technologies. These increased costs are particularly felt by the uninsured
who are seemingly priced out of receiving certain procedures or technologies as they
simply cannot afford them. This starts to present a major problem as healthcare
organizations need to weigh the ethical duty to provide the best patient care possible
against the growing cost of technology.
'
References:
Effectiveness of computerized decision support systems linked to electronic health records:
A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from'https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302164
'
Olavsrud, T., & Writer, S. (2020, May 29).'Decision support systems: Sifting data for
Better Business Decisions. CIO. Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from'https://www.cio.com/article/193521/decision-support-systems-sifting-data-for-
better-business-decisions.html
'
Www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022,
from'https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234309/
'
