Medical decision support

Under Medical Decision Support (engl. Decision aids ) refers to instruments or interventions that the joint decision-making and the involvement of medical laymen in decisions on matters of health and health promotion , to disease and examination - and treatment options designed to facilitate. Decision-making interventions help people reflect on the decisions they face. They describe where and why there are choices. And they provide information about treatment alternatives, including the ability to do nothing if this is beneficial to health and / or quality of life.

meaning

Deciding on the best medical treatment or screening can be difficult for laypeople, especially affected patients. Decision-making aids can be used when there is more than one option and none of the options has a clear advantage, or when the options in question have benefits and harms that are assessed differently by people. Information brochures, videos or internet-based applications can serve as decision-making aids. These clarify the decision, describe the available options and help medical laypeople to view them from a personal point of view (e.g. how important the possible benefits and possible harms are).

Decision-making aids deal with a wide range of issues relating to health and illness. They typically contain information on the advantages and disadvantages of available options as well as instructions for individualized decision-making. Decision-making aids are used individually or as components of structured advice or training .

Evidence-based patient information is an essential part of medical decision-making aids.

effectiveness

Decision-making aids enable a better understanding of the medical treatment options and enable you to make your own decisions about health and illness. By adding decision-making aids to patient education counseling, knowledge of the risks and benefits of a procedure or medication is improved.

Quality criteria

The International Patient Decision Aids Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration has published criteria for the quality assessment of medical decision aids.

Web links

Decision-making aids for the German medical profession at the ÄZQ
Gesundheitsinformation.de - Internet portal for patient information from IQWiG
Fact boxes from the Harding Center for Risk Literacy
International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration

Individual evidence

^ Matthias Lenz, Susanne Buhse, Jürgen Kasper, Ramona Kupfer, Tanja Richter, Ingrid Mühlhauser: Decision Aids for Patients - Decision Aids for Patients. In: Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109 (22-23).
↑ D. Stacey, F. Légaré, K. Lewis, MJ Barry, CL Bennett, KB Eden, M. Holmes-Rovner, H. Llewellyn-Thomas, A. Lyddiatt, R. Thomson, L. Trevena: Decision-making aids for patients, screening or therapy decisions are imminent. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017, Issue 4. Art. No .: CD001431. DOI: 10.1002 / 14651858.CD001431.pub5 .

↑ The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaborations Quality Dimensions: Theoretical Rationales, Current Evidence, and Emerging Issues. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2013 13 (Suppl 2).

[1] Matthias Lenz, Susanne Buhse, Jürgen Kasper, Ramona Kupfer, Tanja Richter, Ingrid Mühlhauser: Decision Aids for Patients - Decision Aids for Patients. In: Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109 (22-23).

[2] D. Stacey, F. Légaré, K. Lewis, MJ Barry, CL Bennett, KB Eden, M. Holmes-Rovner, H. Llewellyn-Thomas, A. Lyddiatt, R. Thomson, L. Trevena: Decision-making aids for patients, screening or therapy decisions are imminent. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017, Issue 4. Art. No .: CD001431. DOI: 10.1002 / 14651858.CD001431.pub5 .

[3] The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaborations Quality Dimensions: Theoretical Rationales, Current Evidence, and Emerging Issues. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2013 13 (Suppl 2).