Detecting atypical alert behavior through statistical process control: Clinical decision support alert frequency visualizations

Clinical decision support (CDS) alerts are designed to work according to a set of clearly defined criteria and have the potential to improve clinical care. To efficiently and proactively review abnormally functioning CDS alerts, we postulate that the introduction of a dashboard with statistical process control (SPC) charting will lead to effective detection of erratic alert behavior. We identified custom CDS alerts from an academic medical center that were recorded and monitored in a longitudinal fashion and the data warehouses where this information was stored. We created a dashboard of alert frequency using SPC charts, applied SPC rules for classification of variation, and validated dashboard data. From June-August 2022, the dashboard effectively pulled in data to visually depict alert behavior. SPC-defined parameters for standard deviation from the mean were applied to visualizations and allowed for rapid review of alerts with greatest variation. These alerts were subsequently investigated, and it was determined that they were functioning correctly. The most profound abnormalities detected during implementation reflected changes in practice and not system errors, though further investigation into thresholds for statistical significance will benefit this field. We conclude that SPC visualizations are a time-efficient and effective method of identifying CDS malfunctions.