Implementation protocols, decision-support

A more important and contentious issue relates to the standardization of clinical practice itself, in the form of guidelines, protocols, decision support and structuring of tasks and procedures. Clinicians are sometime suspicious of these initiatives, suspecting that standardization is being imposed not to improve healthcare but in order to regulate, cut costs and otherwise constrain clinicians in their work. However, properly understood and implemented, such approaches are potentially a support to the clinical staff. Standardization and simplification of core processes should reduce the cognitive load on clinical staff - thus freeing them for more important clinical tasks that require human empathy and expertise. 

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