CHICAGO – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Soceity has deployed a new wiki to allow healthcare organizations to collaborate on realizing the full potential of clinical decision support solutions.

With CDS being a critical part of "meaningful use" criteria, implementation and proper use of the systems is expected to improve care delivery and diagnosis, lowering costs of care for patients. The HIMSS Clinical Decision Support Task Force has now opened its CDS Wiki to the public.

The wiki concept allows a group of users to collaboratively edit a centralized document online.

“The CDS Task Force and wiki were natural outgrowths of an initiative that culminated in the recent publication of Improving medication use and outcomes with CDS: a step by step guide,” said Jerry Osheroff, MD, chair of the HIMSS CDS Task Force, editor-in-chief of the new guide, and chief clinical informatics officer for Thomson Reuters. 

“Scores of individuals and organizations created this guide through the use of tools that support group efforts, such as wikis. So far, the launch of the new book has been very successful; developing and opening up our CDS Task Force wiki is the next stage of this collaborative work.”

CDS solutions provide clinicians and patients with information for diagnostic support. Features like prescription alters regarding dangerous drug interactions as well as disease information on symptoms help doctors make processes more efficient and cost-effective. Other features include information on available medical tests and timelines on treatments that have been ordered.

The new Task Force, in conjunction with six heath systems with 50 hospitals, initially estabilished the project as a closed online forum before opening it as a wiki. The group's efforts have been focused on finding and combining best practices for CDS adoption and addressing specific clinical performance improvement imperatives like Venous Thromboembolism prevention.

New goals of the educational wiki include clarifying how hospitals involved in the CDS adoption process can achieve meaningful use.
 
“By engaging interested stakeholders in the wiki, we can help create a central dynamic resource for the sharing of CDS lessons learned and leverage the value of the electronic health record in providing optimal patient care,” said David Collins, HIMSS director, healthcare information systems.

The HIMSS CDS wiki can be accessed at the following URL: http://himssclinicaldecisionsupportwiki.pbworks.com/.