| Literature DB >> 31181117 |
Mary Tinetti1,2, Lilian Dindo3,4, Cynthia Daisy Smith5,6, Caroline Blaum7, Darce Costello1, Gregory Ouellet1, Jonathan Rosen8, Kizzy Hernandez-Bigos8, Mary Geda1, Aanand Naik3,4,9.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: While patients' health priorities should inform healthcare, strategies for doing so are lacking for patients with multiple conditions. We describe challenges to, and strategies that support, patients' priorities-aligned decision-making.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2019 PMID: 31181117 PMCID: PMC6557523 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218249
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Fig 1Steps in Patient Priorities Care.
Challenges in aligning clinical decisions with patients’ health priorities among older adults with multiple chronic conditions.
| Challenges | Representative Quote |
|---|---|
| No obvious best decision; not knowing where to start as there was so much going on | |
| Often no single identifiable or remediable symptom | |
| Patient prioritizes current discomfort or treatment burden; clinician prioritizes risk of future event | |
| Clinicians vary in their views of the relative importance of information and which treatments are most likely to help patient | |
| Uncertainty whether treatment benefits reported in disease guidelines apply to this population | |
| Revert to disease guideline-based decision-making despite knowing patients’ priorities. | |
Strategies for implementing patient priorities-aligned decision-making.
| Rationale for the Strategy | Tips and Scripts for Using the Strategy |
|---|---|
| In the absence of an obvious best decision and in the presence of uncertainty, where else would you start except with what matter most to the patient? Adherence is likely to improve if you begin with what matters most to the patient. | The “Specific Ask” helps start patient priorities-based communication and decision-making. |
| In the face of uncertainty, serial trials, measuring success (or failure) against attainment of health priorities, helps clinicians titrate care to maximize benefit and reduce burden. | Acknowledge that there is no single right answer. |
| Focusing on how symptoms are interfering with meaningful activities may be more productive than trying to eliminate symptoms. This is because, as noted in challenges, it is often uncertain what is causing the bothersome symptom. Also, it is often not possible to eliminate the symptom completely. In these situations, linking treatments to the patient’s specific goal activity can guide decision-making and be effective. Focusing on activity often paradoxically improves symptoms and is a good metric for tracking whether a treatment change is working. | Focus on achieving patient’s desired activity, |
| Focusing communication on patients’ priorities encourages decision-making based on these priorities. Adherence is likely to improve if recommendations are tied to meaningful outcomes for patients. | Link recommendations to goals and care preferences, |
| Individuals may have different perspectives and use different information to make decisions. There is no one best answer for patients with multiple conditions and variable priorities. In the face of uncertainty, patients’ priorities are the obvious unifying target of decision-making. | Agree on information that informs decision (i.e. patient’s priorities, intervention burden, all chronic conditions, life situation, health trajectory). |