Qualitative study of challenges with recruitment of hospitals into a cluster controlled trial of clinical decision support in Australia.

Objective: To identify barriers to hospital participation in controlled cluster trials of clinical decision support (CDS) and potential strategies for addressing barriers.

Design: Qualitative descriptive design comprising semistructured interviews.

Setting: Five hospitals in New South Wales and one hospital in Queensland, Australia.

Participants: Senior hospital staff, including department directors, chief information officers and those working in health informatics teams.

Results: 20 senior hospital staff took part. Barriers to hospital-level recruitment primarily related to perceptions of risk associated with not implementing CDS as a control site. Perceived risks included reductions in patient safety, reputational risk and increased likelihood that benefits would not be achieved following electronic medical record (EMR) implementation without CDS alerts in place. Senior staff recommended clear communication of trial information to all relevant stakeholders as a key strategy for boosting hospital-level participation in trials.

Conclusion: Hospital participation in controlled cluster trials of CDS is hindered by perceptions that adopting an EMR without CDS is risky for both patients and organisations. The improvements in safety expected to follow CDS implementation makes it challenging and counterintuitive for hospitals to implement EMR without incorporating CDS alerts for the purposes of a research trial. To counteract these barriers, clear communication regarding the evidence base and rationale for a controlled trial is needed.