Keywords

advanced nursing practice, clinical decision support system, handheld computers, obesity, practice guideline

 

Authors

  1. Lee, Nam-Ju DNSc, RN
  2. Chen, Elizabeth S. PhD
  3. Currie, Leanne M. DNSc, RN
  4. Donovan, Mary DNP, APRN-BC, ACNP
  5. Hall, Elizabeth K. DNP, APRN, BC, FNP, GNP
  6. Jia, Haomiao PhD
  7. John, Rita Marie DNP, MSN, CPNP-PC
  8. Bakken, Suzanne DNSc, RN, FAAN

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the proportion of obesity-related diagnoses in clinical encounters (N = 1874) documented by nurses using a personal digital assistant-based log with and without obesity decision support features. The experimental group encounters in the randomized controlled trial had significantly more (P = .000) obesity-related diagnoses (11.3%) than did the control group encounters (1%) and a significantly lower false negative rate (24.5% vs 66.5%, P = .000). The study findings provide evidence that integration of a decision support feature that automatically calculates an obesity-related diagnosis increases diagnoses and decreases missed diagnoses and suggest that such systems have the potential to improve the quality of obesity-related care.