Objectives To identify Clinical Decision Support Software (CDSS) that have been implemented in hospital which aim to influence empirical antibiotic prescribing, and to establish their impact on antibiotic prescribing and patient outcomes. Design Systematic review other outcomes were synthesised qualitatively. Results 15 full texts met the eligibility criteria after screening 7984 unique studies. Low-quality evidence suggested that implementation of CDSS was associated with lower mortality (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.01) and improved adherence to antibiotic prescribing guidelines (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.43). No change in length of stay or readmission rates were observed. Coverage of the causative organism was similar after CDSS implementation (OR 1.26, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.63). High-quality evidence supported the association between CDSS implementation and reduced broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing. Conclusions CDSS can be used to reduce the unnecessary prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Further high-quality studies are required to establish whether their implementation also results in improvements in other outcomes. PROSPERO registration number CRD42024501185.
Hatton et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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