Patients and Providers Agree: Decision Support Helps but Distracts from Visits

​Providers reported strong satisfaction with clinical decision support (CDS) systems used during patient visits, but both providers and patients expressed frustration that using CDS took the provider's attention away from the patient, according to a study published June 2, 2017, in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. In the study, 34 general practitioners each met with six standardized patients using only an electronic health record (EHR) system, and with another six similar standardized patients using EHRs enhanced with CDS. Providers consistently reported that CDS was helpful in prompting them to consider more diagnoses and ask more targeted questions; nearly three-quarters (74%) of participating physicians stated that the CDS was useful.