Clinician Perspectives on Decision Support and AI-based Decision Support in a Pediatric ED

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision support (CDS) systems offer the potential to improve pediatric care through enhanced test ordering, prescribing, and standardization of care. Its augmentation with artificial intelligence (AI-CDS) may help address current limitations with CDS implementation regarding alarm fatigue and accuracy of recommendations. We sought to evaluate strengths and perceptions of CDS, with a focus on AI-CDS, through semistructured interviews of clinician partners. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using semistructured interviews of physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses at a single quaternary-care pediatric emergency department to evaluate clinician perceptions of CDS and AI-CDS. We used reflexive thematic analysis to identify themes and purposive sampling to complete recruitment with the goal of reaching theoretical sufficiency. RESULTS: We interviewed 20 clinicians. Participants demonstrated a variable understanding of CDS and AI, with some lacking a clear definition. Most recognized the potential benefits of AI-CDS in clinical contexts, such as data summarization and interpretation. Identified themes included the potential of AI-CDS to improve diagnostic accuracy, standardize care, and improve efficiency, while also providing educational benefits to clinicians. Participants raised concerns about the ability of AI-based tools to appreciate nuanced pediatric care, accurately interpret data, and about tensions between AI recommendations and clinician autonomy. CONCLUSIONS: AI-CDS tools have a promising role in pediatric emergency medicine but require careful integration to address clinicians' concerns about autonomy, nuance recognition, and interpretability. A collaborative approach to development and implementation, informed by clinicians' insights and perspectives, will be pivotal for their successful adoption and efficacy in improving patient care.