Introduction and aims

The aim was to explore clinical decision support (CDS) use in the practice of primary healthcare nurses. The objectives were to recognize to what extent nurses (registered nurses, public health nurses, and practical nurses) use CDS, what factors were associated with the CDS used, what kind of organizational support nurses need, and what were nurses' views about CDS development needs.

Methods

The study was conducted with a cross-sectional study design, using an electronic questionnaire developed for this purpose. The questionnaire contained 14 structured questions and nine open-ended questions. The sample consisted of randomly selected primary healthcare organizations (N = 19) in Finland. Quantitative data were analyzed using cross-tabulation and Pearson's chi-squared test, and qualitative data with quantification.

Results

A total of 267 healthcare professionals (age range 22-63 years) volunteered to participate. Participants were mainly registered nurses, public health nurses, and practical nurses (46.8, 24, and 22.9%, respectively). Overall, 59% of the participants had never used CDS. The majority (92%) found it necessary to develop nursing-specific content for CDS. The most commonly used features were medication recommendations and warnings (74%), reminders (56%), and calculators (42%). Half of the participants (51%) had not received training on the use of CDS. The older age of participants was associated with the feeling of not having enough training to use CDS (P = 0.039104). Nurses felt that CDS was helpful in their clinical work and decision-making, promoting evidence-based practice, and narrowing the research-into-practice gap, improving patient safety and the quality of care, and helping those who are new in their work.

Conclusion

CDS and its support structures should be developed from a nursing perspective to achieve the full potential of CDS in nursing practice.