The inappropriate use of antibiotics has led to an increase in bacterial resistance and a rise in adverse reactions, putting patients’ lives at risk and generating high costs for the healthcare system. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate electronic decision support tools in antibiotic management. A search for related articles was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, and DOAJ databases, following the PRISMA methodology, and studies written in English were selected. Five observational studies and four implementation studies were evaluated using the ROBINS-I tool to determine the risk of bias. Out of a total of 143 identified publications, 15 met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies showed significant improvements in the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions after implementing CDSS tools. These 15 tools proved effective in reducing prescription errors, improving adherence to clinical guidelines, and decreasing medication-related adverse events. However, their effectiveness critically depends on proper implementation, ongoing training, and adaptation to specific clinical contexts. Future studies should address current barriers and explore the long-term sustainability of CDSS, in addition to conducting detailed economic analyses to justify investment in these technologies.
Miranda et al. (Wed,) studied this question.