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Tag Archives: medical decisions
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Shared Decision Making: Who Benefits the Most May Surprise You
Not long ago, I was talking with a news reporter about an article we published on how surgical decisions are made. The paper reported that surgery patients too often were not given enough information about reasonable options. During our discussion the reporter remarked that the findings of the study were all well and good for some people, but didn’t apply to her elderly dad. Her dad would never have wanted to have information or be involved in medical decisions about his care. Instead, he would just look to his wife to tell him what to do. Continue reading
Voices of Shared Decision Making with Peter Ubel
Each "Voices" blog segment will feature a person we believe has a unique and valuable perspective on shared decision making. Today's guest is Peter Ubel, MD, author of "Critical Decisions." 1) In your own words, what is shared decision making and how does it improve the quality of health care? Put simply, shared decision making is the gold standard -- the sine qua non* -- for how medical decisions ought to be made. The pipe medical choice is rarely a function of medical facts alone. Tough decisions require value judgments, and it is the patient’s values that often determine which choice is best. An operation cannot be a “success” unless it was the right course of action to take for an individual patient. Treatment cannot “work” unless it was the treatment that best fits that patient’s individual preferences. Quality of care begins with shared decision making. Continue reading
Shared Decision-Making® Program Research
View all results of this resource type.Involving Patients in Clinical Decisions: Impact of an Interactive Video Program on Use of Back Surgery
Deyo RA, Cherkin DC, Weinstein J, et al. Involving patients in clinical decisions: Impact of an interactive video program on use of back surgery. Med Care. 2000;38(9):959-69.
Read the abstract.
Featured Shared Decision Making Publications
View all results of this resource type.The DECISIONS Study: A Nationwide Survey of United States Adults Regarding 9 Common Medical Decisions
This article describes a survey of 3,010 adults age 40 and older to assess the frequency of which they made decisions regarding 1) initiation of prescription medications for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or depression 2) screening tests for colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer and 3) surgeries for knee or hip replacement, cataracts, or lower back pain. The study found that 82.2% of participants reported making at least one medical decision in the preceding 2 years, with 83% making a decision about screening, 61% about medications and 44% about surgery. The high frequency of medical decision making lends further weight to the importance of conducting shared decision making during routine care for these and other conditions. Continue reading
Posted in Decision Quality
Tagged Carrie Levin, DECISIONS Study, Floyd J. Fowler, medical decisions, shared decision making
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Patients' Views of the Good Doctor
Most doctors are good doctors in the eyes of most patients. Despite the media's fixation with medical errors and damaged patients, doctors come high in popularity stakes in almost any poll, compared with other professions or trades. Furthermore, familiarity tends to breed contentment, not contempt. Patients who have recent experience of medical care tend to give higher, less critical ratings than patients who experience is less current. The medical profession does, however, attract criticism from patients -- sometimes deservedly so. Continue reading
Posted in Patient Involvement
Tagged Angela Coulter, BMJ, doctors, health care providers, medical decisions, patients
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In The News
View all results of this resource type.[New York Times Well Blog] Do Patients Want More Care or Less?
"See a trend here? So does Dr. Michael Barry, president of the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes sound medical thinking. 'People are more receptive to conversations about medical interventions having both pros and cons,' says Dr. Barry. 'Traditionally, newer and more aggressive interventions were often assumed to be better.' But there are hints of a shift, he says: 'When patients are fully informed, they tend to be more conservative.'"Read the blog post.
Informed Medical Decisions Foundation Funded Research
View all results of this resource type.The National Survey of Medical Decisions (The DECISIONS Study)
The National Survey of Medical Decisions was designed to collect nationally representative data from adults age 40 and above on a variety of medical decisions from the patient perspective, using a random digit dial (RDD) telephone survey. Continue reading
Enhancing Comprehension of Graphically Presented Medical Data: Designs to Help People with Low Graph Literacy
In order to make informed medical decisions, patients need to understand information about risks, benefits and drawbacks of different treatments. However, research on health literacy and medical decision making has shown that patients in different cultures have severe problems grasping a host of numerical concepts that are prerequisites for understanding health-relevant statistical information. Graphical displays -- including line plots, bar charts or icon arrays -- often facilitate the communication of numerical information, and can help overcome some of these difficulties. Continue reading
