EHR Clinical Decision Support Systems 2 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which CDS intervention type fires automatically when a clinician opens a patient's chart without requiring any user action?
- Active (unsolicited) alert (Correct answer)
- Passive (solicited) alert
- Order set recommendation
- Infobutton link
Correct answer: Active (unsolicited) alert
Active or unsolicited CDS alerts fire automatically based on triggers without requiring the clinician to request information.
Question 2: A drugādrug interaction alert fires every time two common medications are ordered together, even when clinically appropriate. This is an example of what problem?
- Alert fatigue due to low specificity (Correct answer)
- Insufficient EHR integration
- Missing patient consent
- Formulary restriction error
Correct answer: Alert fatigue due to low specificity
Alert fatigue occurs when high-volume, low-specificity alerts cause clinicians to routinely override or ignore them.
Question 3: Which metric best measures whether a CDS alert is changing clinician prescribing behavior?
- Override rate (Correct answer)
- System uptime
- Number of alerts fired
- Login frequency
Correct answer: Override rate
Override rate indicates how often clinicians bypass an alert and is a primary measure of CDS effectiveness.
Question 4: What is the purpose of an 'infobutton' in a CDS system?
- Links to context-sensitive clinical reference information (Correct answer)
- Sends an alert to the attending physician
- Blocks order entry until reviewed
- Calculates medication dosages automatically
Correct answer: Links to context-sensitive clinical reference information
Infobuttons provide context-sensitive links to external knowledge resources relevant to the current clinical situation.
Question 5: A CDS rule recommends aspirin for a patient flagged with a penicillin allergy. What design flaw does this illustrate?
- Incorrect logic mapping unrelated conditions (Correct answer)
- Missing formulary data
- Audit log failure
- Duplicate order detection error
Correct answer: Incorrect logic mapping unrelated conditions
Triggering an aspirin recommendation based on a penicillin allergy reflects a logic error where unrelated clinical conditions are incorrectly linked.
Question 6: Which CDS tool helps ensure that all required components of a clinical process (e.g., sepsis bundle) are completed?
- Checklist or protocol reminder (Correct answer)
- Passive reference tool
- Drugādrug interaction alert
- Patient education module
Correct answer: Checklist or protocol reminder
Checklists and protocol reminders ensure adherence to multi-step care bundles by prompting completion of each required action.
Question 7: Under the '5 Rights of CDS,' which element ensures the alert reaches the most appropriate person?
- Right person (Correct answer)
- Right time
- Right channel
- Right format
Correct answer: Right person
The 'right person' element of the 5 Rights of CDS ensures alerts are directed to the clinician best positioned to act on them.
EHR Clinical Decision Support Systems 2
Which CDS intervention type fires automatically when a clinician opens a patient's chart without requiring any user action?