Study finds that clinical decision support tool improves hospital quality performance

A study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine has found that hospitals that use Uptodate, a clinical decision support tool, achieve higher quality scores than those that do not.

For the study, researchers examined whether the use of UpToDate was associated with lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, shorter lengths of stay, and better performance on standard quality process metrics including heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia measures.

The study found a small but consistent association between use of UpToDate and reduced length of stay, lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, and better quality performance, in particular in small, non-teaching hospitals.

(Sources: The Advisory Board Daily Briefing, http://advisory.com, November 18, 2011; The Journal of Hospital Medicine, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com, November 16, 2011)