Improving ambulatory prescribing safety with a handheld decision support system: a randomized controlled trial.

This study determined that use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) led to safer prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications. Investigators evaluated the PDA-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) in an academic internal medicine resident clinic, where the system offered providers relevant patient-specific risk assessments and treatment recommendations. The patient interactions used for analysis derived from unannounced standardized patients with musculoskeletal complaints. A past systematic review outlined the effects of computerized CDSS on practitioner performance and patient outcomes.