Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Excess information in complex ICU environments exceeds human decision making limits, increasing the likelihood of clinical errors. Explicit decision-support tools have favorable effects on clinician and patient outcomes and can reduce the variation in clinical practice that persists even when guidelines based on reputable evidence are available. ⋯ Individualization of patient therapy is preserved by these explicit protocols since they are driven by patient data. Computerized protocols that aid ICU decision-makers should be more widely distributed.