They are sometimes considered to be a subclass of reminders. Scheduling conflicts Presentation of abnormal results for acknowledgement Present result and its deviation from the normal range. The deviation might be absolute, but a statistical presentation or ratio may be more helpful and would overcome the problem of different normal ranges for different laboratories, methods, etc. A reminder is a communication sent to a clinician at the time of a patient contact. Hospital LOS fell from 3.5 to 2.6 days during months when the investigators provided written and verbal reminders of the policy.
Decision support can only function when the clinical database exists.
The rules based alerts, reminders, flow sheets do nothing until data is entered. Decision support can maximally influence decisions if it is delivered at the time when the physician formulates the plans and orders. If the reminder or suggestion is delivered after the physician has left the work station, it is less likely to produce a change in behavior.