Comparing the Effectiveness of CDSS on Provider's Behaviors to Implement Obesity Prevention Guidelines.

Obesity is a global epidemic demanding the use of clinical decision support tools to help clinicians in the identification, assessment and management of healthy weight gain in children. Over the last decade, numerous systematic reviews have shown that clinical decision support systems (CDSS) have positively impacted clinician's performance for drug ordering/dosing and preventive care reminders. CDSS that are built into the clinician's workflow at the point of care also have a positive impact on provider's performance. There are limited studies that examine CDSS in nursing practice. This paper describes a comparative effectiveness study being conducted in school-based clinics to examine the impact of web-based training with and without a CDSS that contains tailored recommendations. The study involves the use of a CDSS tool focused on cardiovascular risks, HeartSmartKids™. This research is an important example of an interdisciplinary team using information technology to address the global issue of obesity prevention.