issn 1652-1153
isbn 978-91-7668-857-1 Örebro Studies in Care Sciences 36örebro 2012
Doctoral Dissertation
Computerized Decision Support System in Nursing Homes
Mariann Fossum
Medical Science with focus on Health and Care Sciences
2012
M
a
r
ia
nn
F
o
ss
u
m
C
om
pu
te
riz
ed D
eci
sio
n S
up
po
rt S
ys
te
m i
n N
urs
in
g H
om
es
ÖREBRO STUDIES IN CaRE SCIENCES 36Mariann Fossum graduated as a registered nurse
in 1992. She has worked in clinical practice as well as in nursing education at Østfold University College. Since 2003, she has worked at the University of Agder (formerly Agder University College). She has a post-graduate education in geriatric nursing and in 2000 earned a master’s degree in nursing science from the Department of Nursing Science, University of Oslo. For the past six years, she has combined her doctoral stud-ies at the Department of Health and Medical Sciences at Örebro University, Sweden, with teaching nursing and health informatics at the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway. Her main line of research focuses on nursing informatics, and in particular, computerized decision support systems used in nursing homes.
Positive effects are expected by introducing computerized decision support systems to support clinical problem solving, reduce errors and increase health care efficiency. The overall aim of the thesis was to study registered nurses’ thinking strategies and clinical reasoning processes, and to implement and test a computerized decision support system integrated into the electronic health care record for preventing pressure ulcers and malnutrition among residents in nursing homes. This thesis shows that the implementation of computerized decision support systems has the potential to improve the quality and safety of care and to support nursing personnel to perform nursing documentation that meets the legal demands, regulations and policies.
