Computer-based decision support for pediatric asthma management: description and feasibility of the Stop Asthma Clinical System

• HIT Description: Decision support system to enhance asthma care More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: assess the feasibility of using the Stop Asthma Clinical System (SACS) designed to enhance compliance with asthma guidelines
  
• Years of study: Not Available
  
• Study Design: cross-sectional
  
• Outcomes: impact on health care effectiveness and quality and on efficiency, utilization and costs
  

• Settings: convenience sample of 7 physicians and 1 nurse educator from a large inner city teaching hospital and associated community clinics evaluating 26 patients with asthma
• Intervention: physicians and educator utilized the SACS system via PCs with printers mounted on moveable carts
• Evaluation Method: surveys and semi-structured interviews
• Description: stand-alone program based on multilayered decision rules that displays data pertinent to the medical issue, prompts to possible next steps, a working area to assign values or classifications and feedback for clinic intervention
• Strategy: All clinicians received at least one hour of one-on-one training in SACS
• Facilitators: clinicians were experienced computer users
• Quality of Care and Patient Safety Outcome: When compared to usual care, SACS perceived by clinicians as being more useful in assessing severity and control, in classifying and intervening in medication and environmental management problems and in developing an asthma plan.
• Changes in efficiency and productivity: SACS was not felt to provide any time saving benefit