Aim for the "art of the possible"

In defining your decision support intervention, you need to consider real-world constraints - for example:

Available technology

Health and social care organisations may impose restrictions on the technology supported by work computers and mobile devices, and may limit or prohibit use of personal devices.

Digital inclusion

Factors such as deprivation, disability and language can limit people’s ability to use digital tools to support their choices about health and care. The Right Decision Service technology infrastructure complies with W3C AA accessibility, but you should also check the accessibility of the content you deliver through the RDS standards.

For decision support tools used to support shared decision-making or self-management by members of the public, you should follow health literacy and Plain English principles. You should also consider incorporating features such as printable forms and pages functionality, to enable health and care professionals to provide hard copies of resources for people who need them.

Data quality and data curation

Decision support systems that integrate with electronic care record systems are dependent on the quality of structured coded data about the individual, such as their age, gender, smoking history, drug allergies or cholesterol level. If some data are missing, present only in free text form (rather than a defined code), or are out of date, this can affect the appropriateness of the decision support advice.

A related key constraint is the availability of an application programming interface (API) through which the DSS can link to the data in the care record system and integrate its output into the user interface of the individual patient record.

Be aware that some kinds of decision lend themselves more readily to decision support than others

Evidence from 122 randomised trials of decision support systems embedded in electronic record systems shows that some kinds of decision or clinical task, such as test ordering, seem to be easier to improve than others, such as prescribing – See Annex 2 for details.