PURPOSE: Clinical guidelines are designed to assist in the management of specific diseases; however, these guidelines are often neglected in the delivery of care. The purpose of this study was to determine whether clinician use of a clinical practice guideline would increase in response to having, at the patient visit, a decision support system based on a practice guideline that generates a customized management protocol for the individual patient using data from the patient's electronic medical record.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In a 6-month controlled trial at a primary care clinic, 58 primary care clinicians were randomized to receive either a special encounter form with the computer-generated guideline recommendations or a standard encounter form. The effect of computer-generated advice on clinician behavior was measured as rate of compliance with guideline recommendations. Data from 30 clinicians were analyzed; data from 28 clinicians were excluded because these clinicians did not meet predefined criteria for minimum exposure to diabetic patient care.

RESULTS: Availability of patient management recommendations generated by the decision support system resulted in a two-fold increase in clinician compliance with care guidelines for diabetes mellitus (P = 0.01). Median compliance for the group receiving the recommendations was 32.0% versus 15.6% for the control group.

CONCLUSION: Decision support based on a clinical practice guideline is an effective tool for assisting clinicians in the management of diabetic patients. This decision support system provides a model for how a clinical practice guideline can be integrated into the care process by computer to assist clinicians in managing a specific disease through helping them comply with care standards. Use of decision support systems based on clinical practice guidelines could ultimately improve the quality of medical care.