Physician evaluation after medical errors: does having a computer decision aid help or hurt in hindsight?
The role and utility of clinical decision support systems continue to grow. This study discovered that physicians who used and agreed with a computer decision aid received less critical judgment afterward compared with their counterparts who did not consult such an aid. Interestingly, even when a physician defied the aid for the correct reasons, they were perceived no more favorably than those who used no aid at all. Although the study findings derived from second-year medical students representing the medical community and undergraduates representing the lay public, the findings warrant further consideration to better understand the role that decision support may play in the context of medical errors. A past study showed the benefit such systems can play in reducing medication errors.