Table 1.

Studies reporting effects of nursing DSSs on decision making, care delivery, and patient outcomes (n = 28)

Author, year	Study design	Study dates	User group	Setting	Sample size	Target population	Purpose of DSS	Stages of human information processing automated				Steps of nursing care process
								IA	IAn	DS	AI	A	PI	P	I	E
Ajay et al, 201639	Quasi experimental	1 Dec 2012 to 21 Aug 2014	RNs	Long term: community health centers	22 009 patients 5 CHCs	Patients above the age of 30 y, who attended participating community health centers	Nursing care plan for noncommunicable diseases		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bakken et al, 201418	RCT	Not mentioned	NPs	Both	363 NP students, 34 349 unique encounters	Patients attending NP clinics	Reminds nurses to screen patients, formulate nursing care plans.		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Barken et al, 201738	Descriptive	Oct 2015 to Feb 2016	RNs	Short term: telemedicine	3 nurses 60 h observation	Telemedicine nurses	Triage assessment and recommendation	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
Bennett et al, 201628	Quasi experimental	Preimplementation: 1 Apr 2009 to 31 Mar 2010 Postimplementation: 1 Apr 2011 to 31 Mar 2012	RNs	Short term: emergency department	800 patient records (400 pre and 400 post)	Patients with confirmed neutropenia who attended emergency department	Triage assessment and recommendation		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Boltin et al, 201829	Quasi experimental	April 2017 Simulated event	RNs	Short term: emergency department	13 registered nurses 296 simulated patient encounters	Mass casualty victims (all age)	Triage assessment and recommendation	Y	Y	Y		Y			Y
Bowles et al, 201522	Quasi experimental	Preimplementation (control phase): 3 wk Postimplementation (experiment): 4 wk	RNs	Short term: adult inpatient	6 hospital units Control phase: 2816 assessments Experiment phase: 3450 assessments	Adult patients admitted in and discharged alive from participating units	Risk assessment and recommendation for discharge outcomes		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Chunmei et al, 201823	Quasi experimental	Year 2017. Duration not mentioned	RNs	Short term: adult inpatient	600 patient records (300 pre implementation, 300 post imp)	Adult inpatients	Risk assessment and management recommendations		Y	Y			Y	Y	Y
Ciqueto Peres et al, 201524	Descriptive	1 Jan 2011 to 31 Dec 2012	RNs	Short term: adult inpatient	337, 056 admissions 18 RNs	Patients admitted to medical and surgical units	Nursing problem assessment		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y
Cortez and Wells, 201636	RCT	11 wk (dates not mentioned)	RNs	Short term: adult outpatient	4 oncology clinics 50 nurses (24 control. 26 intervention)	Adult oncology nurses	Recommends interventions for common symptoms		Y	Y	Y			Y	Y
Dallaire and Cossi, 201537	RCT	3 mo (dates not mentioned)	RNs	Short term: ambulance	806 patients (396 control, 410 intervention)	Older adults who called for ambulance	Triage assessment and recommendation		Y	Y		Y			Y
Dehgani Soufi et al, 201830	Quasi experimental	Not mentioned	RNs	Short term: emergency department	10 nurses (5 in each group) 537 patients	Triage patients in emergency department	Triage assessment and recommendation		Y	Y		Y		Y	Y
Febretti et al, 201443	Quasi experimental	Not mentioned	RNs	Long term: palliative care	24 nurses	End-of-life care patients	Recommends intervention for pain management.		Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
Geurts et al, 201731	RCT	May 2010 to Dec 2012	RNs	Short term: emergency department	222 patients (103 intervention, 109 control)	Children aged between 1 mo and 5 y, presenting in ED with acute vomiting and/or diarrhea	Assess and recommends rehydration interventions		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Harless, 201619	Quasi experimental	Preimplementation start date: 15 Jun 2015 Postimplementation start date: 15 Sep 2015	NPs	Short term: adult outpatient	31 patients 2 NPs	Patients over age 18 y, who presented at NP clinic with complain of nonspecific low back pain	Assessment and recommendations for functional outcomes		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Horner and Coleman, 201421	Quasi experimental	9 mo (Dates not mentioned)	Registered nurses and midwives	Short term: Community health centres	3 clinics 900 patients 3 RNs	Antenatal patients	Perinatal risk assessment and management recommendations		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Kihlgren et al, 201632	Quasi experimental	Not mentioned	RNs	Short term: Emergency Department	281 patients assessed with DSS	Older people	Triage older people with health deterioration		Y	Y		Y			Y
Lytle et al, 201525	Quasi experimental	Preimplementation: Oct 2012 to May 2013 Postimplementation: Aug 2013 to Jan 2014	RNs	Short term: Adult inpatient	2-16 hospital units 60 patients per unit	Adult inpatients in medical and surgical units	Alerts nurses to complete fall risk assessments and documentation		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Mahabee-Gittens et al, 201833	Quasi experimental	3 mo starting Nov 2015	RNs	Short term: Urgent care	35 nurses 14, 218 patient visits	Pediatric urgent care nurses	Screening and counseling for caregivers who smoke		Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
McDonald et al, 201641	RCT	Not mentioned	RNs	Long term: home care	7919 patients 500 nurses (335 control, 165 intervention)	Home health patients with high medication regimen complexity	Identify patients with high medication regimen complexity and offers management module	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y		Y
McLeod et al, 202034	Observational	Preimplementation: Jul to Sep 2016 Postimplementation: Jun 2017 to Dec 2018	RNs	Short term: Emergency Department	7 Eds 1491 triage assessments	Triage patients in emergency department	Triage assessment and recommendation		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Olsho et al, 201444	Quasi experimental	12 mo	RNs	Long term: Nursing homes	12 nursing homes in experiment group 13 nursing homes in control group	Nursing home residents	Risk assessment	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y
Reynolds et al, 201926	Quasi experimental	1 y	RNs	Short term: Intensive care unit	64 nurses, 2 sites	Pediatric nurses	Medication dose calculation		Y	Y					Y
Tang et al, 201945	Quasi experimental	Jan 2017 to Jun 2017	RNs	Long term: Nursing homes	60 admission nurses, 30 patients.	Elderly patients with chronic diseases admitted to nursing homes	Formulate nursing care plans		Y	Y		Y		Y	Y
Telford et al, 201827	Observational	1 May 2015 to 15 Dec 2015	RNs	Short term: Intensive care unit	48 patients 1640 blood glucose values	ICU patients receiving insulin infusion	Medication dose calculation		Y	Y					Y	Y
Thoma-Lurken et al, 201840	RCT	Jan to May 2017	RNs	Long term: Community	67 nurses	Care coordinator nurses in community based dementia care	Risk assessment and management recommendations		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y
Topaz et al, 201842	Quasi experimental (Pilot)	Apr-May 2016	RNs	Long term: Home care	176 patients (90 control, 86 experimental)	Patients transitioning from hospital to home care	Generates priority score	Y	Y	Y		Y			Y
Vetter, 201520	Quasi experimental	3 mo	NPs	Long term: Home care	7 NPs 39 patient records	Chronically ill homebound patients with complex, comorbid conditions	Recommends diagnosis and ICD code		Y	Y		Y	Y
Wouters et al, 202035	Descriptive	Jul 2016 to Jul 2018	RNs	Short term: Emergency Department	24 nurses	Telephone triage nurses	Telephone triage assessment and recommendation		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

A: assessment; AI: action implementation; CHC: community health centre; DS: decision selection; dSS: decision support system; E: evaluation; I: intervention; IA: information acquisition; Ian: information analysis; ICD: International Classification of Diseases; ICU: intensive care unit; NP: nurse practitioner; P: plan; PI: problem identification; RCT: randomized controlled trial; RN: registered nurse; Y: yes.