Bates et al.15(p524) (and later adopted by Ash et al.4(p980)) defined a CDSS as a computer-based system providing “passive and active referential information as well as reminders, alerts, and guidelines.”

Kawamoto et al.16(p1) (and later adopted by Bright et al.9(p29)) identified a CDSS as “any electronic system designed to aid directly in clinical decision making, in which characteristics of individual patients are used to generate patient-specific assessments or recommendations that are then presented to clinicians for consideration.”

Payne17(p47S) classified CDSSs as “computer applications designed to aid clinicians in making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions in patient care.”