How Context-Aware Decision Support is Reshaping Clinical Practice: Brandon Arruda of West Virginia University Medicine

Clinicians make decisions based on a lot of information from various sources: what the patient is saying, what has happened across prior visits, and what the latest medical evidence suggests. Pulling all of that together while staying focused on the patient in front of you isn't always easy.

Abridge's clinical intelligence leverages context at the moment of care. It uses the patient conversation alongside information from the electronic health record, including prior notes, labs, diagnoses, and other chart data, to shape the evidence it surfaces during care. No switching tabs. No digging for labs. Just evidence-based insights, tailored to each patient's clinical situation, now implemented across the enterprise at more than 300 health systems.

We recently sat down with Brandon Arruda, a nurse practitioner in urologic oncology at West Virginia Medicine and an early adopter of Abridge’s context-aware clinical intelligence for decision support. In our conversation, he shared how Abridge has changed his day-to-day workflow, what makes him trust the evidence it surfaces, and what it means to him as a clinician.

In Conversation with Brandon Arruda

Tell us about your practice. What does a typical day look like?

I run my own full, top-of-license practice in urologic oncology at West Virginia University Medicine, a busy academic medical center. I see my own patients and follow them through their entire cancer journey, so I'm often with the same person for years. My days vary a lot: phone visits as early as seven in the morning, a procedure or two, then a full clinic schedule that can run until five.

Take us back to the first time you used decision support within Abridge. What was your initial reaction?

It blew me away. The first time I used it, I asked for the most current guidelines for a testicular cancer case, and it pulled the frameworks I lean on most for cancer follow-up, from a few specialty sources, all in one place. I didn’t have to dig through content or use other apps. It was accurate, well-sourced, and that's what hooked me early on.

How would you describe the impact it’s had on your workflow?

I've always pulled up guidelines with my patients and gone through them together, and that hasn't changed. What's different now is how long it takes, and the personalization I can do. It used to mean opening a separate app, logging in, and scrolling through page after page to find the right section, which adds up visit after visit. Now, using Abridge, it takes a minute, is right there on my phone, and, most importantly, is specific to the patient in front of me. This has given me a more confident way to walk patients through current guidance. And, the information I share goes straight into the after-visit summary, so the patients have it to reference at home.

Walk us through a recent example of how you used decision support in an actual visit.

I had a patient who was four years out from testicular cancer treatment. He'd been stable throughout, and I'd kept him on six-month follow-up for years. Before a recent visit, I found myself wondering whether that interval still needed to hold. So, I pulled up his most recent CT report and labs and asked Abridge what current guidance says about extending follow-up for a case like his. Abridge didn't hand me the general guideline for any patient at this stage. It actually pulled the relevant findings from his report and labs with sources attached and confirmed that a year was appropriate for his situation. I felt confident sharing that information with him, because it wasn't just a generic recommendation—it was specific to him. At the end of the day, that's the care I want to be able to deliver every patient: grounded in evidence I trust, based on who they are and their story.

What does having context-aware decision support mean to you as a clinician?

For me, it means I can move as fast as the moment calls for, without giving up the depth I've always brought to conversations with patients. Abridge provides evidence from sources I already use, shaped around the person actually in front of me, so the decision I land on is one I'm confident in and can act on right away.

Want to hear from more clinicians like Brandon? Check out the rest of the series on our newsfeed. And if you're curious how Abridge’s context-aware decision support could fit into your workflow, head to the CDS page on our website to learn more.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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