The DECISIONS Study: A Nationwide Survey of United States Adults Regarding 9 Common Medical Decisions

Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, Mick P. Couper, Eleanor Singer, Carrie A. Levin, Floyd J. Fowler, Sonja Ziniel, Peter A. Ubel and Angela Fagerlin

Medical Decision Making, 2010, vol. 30, issue 5_suppl, 20-34

Abstract: Background Patient involvement is required before patients’ preferences can be reflected in the medical care they receive. Furthermore, patients are a vital link between physicians’ assessments of patients’ needs and actual implementation of appropriate care. Yet no study has specifically examined how and when a representative sample of patients considered, discussed, and made medical decisions. Objective To identify decision prevalence and decision-making processes 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. Design Computer-assisted telephone interview survey. Setting Nationally representative sample of US adults in households with telephones. Participants 3010 English-speaking adults age 40 and older identified using a stratified random sample of telephone numbers. Measurements Estimated prevalence of medical decisions, defined as the patient having initiated medications, been screened, or had surgery within the past 2 years or having discussed these actions with a health care provider during the same interval, as well as decision-specific data regarding patient knowledge, attitudes and patient-provider interactions. Results 82.2% of the target population reported making at least 1 medical decision in the preceding 2 years. The proportion of decisions resulting in patient action varied dramatically both across decision type (medications [61 %] v. screening [83%] v. surgery [44%]; P

Keywords: decision making; health care surveys; physician-patient relations; patient-centered care; patient preference. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X09353792 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:30:y:2010:i:5_suppl:p:20-34

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X09353792

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().