Clinical decision support for primary care system strengthening: Report of an educational workshop

Abstract

Health system strengthening will only be possible if there is a comprehensive system of primary care. This, in turn, will only be possible with adequate numbers of high-quality general practitioner (GP) trainees. These trainees need medical education and clinical decision support. This paper reports on an educational workshop conducted with GP trainees that describes their needs and views on decision support. The workshop focused on the use of the clinical decision support resource BMJ Best Practice. GP trainees see clinical decision support as a feasible means of helping them to learn and improve their practice. They value content that is continually updated and evidence based and that will help them put what they have learned into practice. Clinical decision support needs to be easily navigable and to give users answers in seconds (rather than minutes). GP trainees most appreciate resources that are low cost or funded by their training institution.