Special Issue on CDS Failures: The Burden of a Highly Targeted Alert

 

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Background: Interruptive alerts in clinical decision support (CDS) systems are intended to guide clinicians in making informed decisions and adhering to best practices. However, these alerts can often become a source of frustration, contributing to alert fatigue and clinician burnout. Traditionally, alert burden is often assessed by evaluating total firing counts, which can overlook the true impact of highly interruptive workflows. This study demonstrates how an alert burden metric was used to uncover an ineffective alert for decommissioning. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a burden metric in identifying high-impact, low-value alerts and prioritizing improvement efforts for a CDS governance team. Methods: A clinical informatics team employed XXX to assess alert burden and identify areas requiring intervention within the alert library. Results: The team used the XXX to identify a breast cancer survivorship alert that fired 3,550 times in 2023, with an acceptance rate of just 0.00056%. Investigation identified that this alert targeted a single clinician over the span of several years and the CDS governance team promptly decommissioned the alert. Conclusion: This case highlights the value of continuous CDS monitoring, effective governance, and advanced analytics to identify and mitigate alert fatigue. Insights from this failure provide guidance for enhancing future CDS design, evaluation, and clinician engagement.

Publication History

Received: 27 December 2024

Accepted after revision: 02 April 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
03 April 2025

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