NHS organisations adopt clinical decision support tool during pandemic

A number of NHS organisations have adopted a clinical decision support tool to help during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wolters Kluwer Health’s UpToDate is an evidence-based knowledge system that helps clinicians make the right decisions at the point of care.

It contains more than 10,000 articles providing evidence-graded treatment recommendations, as well as diagnostic and other information for common and rare conditions.

During the crisis, Wolters Kluwer Health provided clinicians with access to its evidence-based information on Covid-19 topics free of charge.

The NHS trusts now using UpToDate are:

• Leeds University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
• University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
• Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
• South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Amad Khan, chief resident, neurosurgery at University Hospital Southampton, said: “Doctors are used to dealing with complex and unpredictable cases, but the Covid-19 pandemic made this a daily reality, presenting us with challenging situations never faced before, with many clinicians working outside their usual specialities.

“Hospitals adopted a crisis footing to manage and treat the unprecedented number of patients, with doctors working in an unfamiliar setting, treating an unknown disease. In this situation it was crucial to have access to the latest evidence-based research and treatment recommendations. UpToDate, with its authoritative, regularly updated information across 50 Covid-19 topics, was a big help.”

So far during the coronavirus crisis, the Covid-19 topics on UpToDate have been viewed by 11.4 million views worldwide and 9,000 unique users in the UK.