Clinical–pharmaceutical assessment of medication CDSS alerts: content appropriateness and patient relevance in clinical practice

Despite the locally customized medication CDSS, a high number of CDSS alerts were displayed. Interestingly, we still observed content-inappropriate CDSS alerts defined by pharmaceutical validation. The majority of CDSS alerts with appropriate content were rated not patient relevant in clinical practice and could be considered as overalerting. Our results highlight that a CDSS can support healthcare professionals but underline (1) the continuing need for clinical pharmacists to improve medication safety by interpreting CDSS alerts and performing comprehensive medication reviews and (2) the further need for CDSS improvements.