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Below you will find samples of our most recent acquisitions in Patient Knowledge, grouped by resource type.
Decision-Making Process Reported by Medicare Patients Who Had Coronary Artery Stenting or Surgery for Prostate Cancer
March 7, 2012
The objective of this study was to learn how decisions were made for two major preference-sensitive interventions: prostate cancer surgery and coronary artery stenting. Through a mail survey of probability samples of patients who underwent these two procedures, the authors found that while prostate cancer surgery patients reported more involvement in the decision making process than elective stent patients, both reports illustrated the need for increased efforts to inform and involve patients facing preference-sensitive intervention decisions.… Continue reading
Posted in Decision Quality, Patient Knowledge
Tagged decision-making, Floyd J. Fowler, prostate cancer surgery, stenting
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Uninformed Compliance or Informed Choice? A Needed Shift in our Approach to Cancer Screening
November 21, 2011
This commentary article criticizes the current practice in health care to conduct cancer screening without first informing patients about the benefits and harms of screening tests. Stefanek believes that the lack of transparent presentation of data about known harms and benefits has resulted in a bias towards screening and an inflated view of how much the reduction in cancer mortality can be attributed to cancer screening overall. Stefanek proposes that effort should be refocused on educating rather than persuading the public.… Continue reading
Posted in Decision Quality, Patient Knowledge
Tagged cancer, health education, shared decision making
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Assessing the Quality of Information to Support People in Making Decisions about Their Health and Healthcare
November 1, 2006
Good quality health information is essential for greater patient involvement in healthcare. Patients and the public require information that is timely, relevant, reliable and easy to understand. This is an essential component of any strategy to promote health literacy, self-care, choice- shared decision-making, medication adherence and self-management of chronic disease. Patients have many decisions to make about their healthcare and, like all decision-makers, they require information to inform their choices. Reliable information is also essential to help patients understand their health problems and how to deal with them.… Continue reading
Engaging Patients in Their Healthcare: How is the UK Doing Relative to Other Countries
April 11, 2006
Most patients want to play an active role in their own healthcare. They want to know how to protect and improve their health when they are well; when they are ill they want information about the treatment options and likely outcomes; and, in addition to seeking fast effective health advice and care when they need it, most people also want to know what they can do to help themselves.… Continue reading
Determining the Need for Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: The Role of Clinical Severity and Patients' Preferences
March 1, 2001
In this study, patients with hip or knee arthritis were assessed for their need and willingness to undergo arthroplasty in two geographic regions with high and low use of the procedure. Patients were assessed for this clinical appropriateness for surgery, and then participated in an interview where they were told the consequences of not having surgery, alternative treatments, risks and benefits of surgery, and potential risks of surgery. Among individuals that were deemed clinically appropriate for surgery, only 14.9% in the high-rate area and 8.5% in the low-rate area responded as being definitely willing to undergo arthroplasty. The great variation between those patients who are clinically appropriate versus willing to undergo surgery suggest that patient values should be more routinely incorporated into clinical decisions.… Continue reading
