Reusable Generic Clinical Decision Support System Module for Immunization Recommendations in Resource-Constraint Settings

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are routinely employed in clinical settings to improve quality of care, ensure patient safety, and deliver consistent medical care. However, rule-based CDSS, currently available, do not feature reusable rules. In this study, we present CDSS with reusable rules. Our solution includes a common CDSS module, electronic medical record (EMR) specific adapters, CDSS rules written in the clinical quality language (CQL) (derived from CDC immunization recommendations), and patient records in fast healthcare interoperability resources (FHIR) format. The proposed CDSS is entirely browser-based and reachable within the user’s EMR interface at the client-side. This helps to avoid the transmission of patient data and privacy breaches. Additionally, we propose to provide means of managing and maintaining CDSS rules to allow the end users to modify them independently. Successful implementation and deployment were achieved in OpenMRS and OpenEMR during initial testing.