Informed choice assistance for women making uterine fibroid treatment decisions: a practical clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence about how to ensure that patients are helped to make informed medical care decisions. OBJECTIVE: To test a decision support intervention for uterine fibroid treatments. DESIGN AND SETTING: Practical clinical trial to test informed choice assistance in 4 randomly assigned gynecology clinics compared to 5 others providing a pamphlet. PATIENTS: Three hundred women facing a treatment decision for fibroids over a 13-month period. INTERVENTION: Mailed DVD and brochure about fibroid treatments plus the Ottawa decision guide and an offer of counseling soon after an index visit. MEASUREMENTS: Mailed survey 6 to 8 weeks later asking about knowledge, preferences, and satisfaction with decision support. RESULTS: In total, 244 surveys were completed for an adjusted response rate of 85.4%. On a 5-point scale, intervention subjects reported more treatment options being mentioned (3.0 v. 2.4), had a higher knowledge score (3.3 v. 2.8), and were more likely to report being adequately informed (4.4 v. 4.0), and their decision was both more satisfactory (4.3 v. 4.0) and more consistent with their personal values (4.5 v. 4.2). Neither knowledge nor use of the intervention was associated with greater concordance between preferences and decisions. LIMITATIONS: Implementation of intervention may not have been well timed to the decision for some patients, limiting their use of the materials and counseling. CONCLUSION: It is difficult to integrate structured decision support consistently into practice. Decision support for benign uterine conditions showed effects on knowledge and satisfaction but not on concordance.

Evaluating preference-sensitive care for uterine fibroids: it's not so simple.

BACKGROUND: Preference-sensitive care decisions should reflect an informed patient's preferences. This retrospective survey of women with fibroids, a benign condition with multiple treatment options, sought to evaluate the extent to which this was measurable and true. METHODS: All 260 women in one medical group with visit codes for uterine fibroids during a 9-month period in 2006 were mailed surveys constructed through focus groups with physicians and interviews with patients. Correlations tested associations among their preferences, knowledge, and treatment decisions. RESULTS: The adjusted response rate was 82%, but only 100 respondents fit all criteria for analysis. Nearly all wanted to either share or control the decision, and 86% felt informed, satisfied, and that the decision was consistent with their values. However, only 55% of patients could answer at least five of seven fibroid questions correctly. Hysterectomy use was significantly correlated with desire to relieve symptoms, have a permanent treatment, and do something right away (r = 0.36, 0.37, and 0.30, respectively). Those deciding not to treat were significantly less likely to have these preferences (r = -0.65, -0.40, and -0.58). These relationships were not affected by patient knowledge level, but patients with high knowledge scores were significantly more likely to believe their decision was concordant with their preferences (94.9% vs. 74.4%, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There were knowledge gaps but unclear associations between knowledge and decision-preference relationships for this condition, which has many different treatment alternatives. A prospective intervention trial is needed to determine if better information and counseling would produce stronger concordance between treatment selected and patient preferences.

Update on cervical cancer screening. Current diagnostic and evidence-based management protocols.

Pap smear screening for cervical cancer has been a preventive health success. Although improved technology is increasing the accuracy of this technique, more women who have never been tested will need to undergo screening in order to further decrease the incidence of cervical cancer in the United States. The establishment of infection with high-risk genital HPV types as a causative factor in cervical cancer is a major breakthrough in understanding of this disease. Testing for the presence of high-risk HPV DNA should increase the ability to identify women who are truly at risk for cancer and true cancer precursors and to more efficiently plan further diagnostic evaluation. The 2001 revisions in TBS reflect our improved understanding of the epidemiology and natural history of cervical epithelial abnormalities and cervical cancer. These revisions are designed to facilitate communication between the clinician and the laboratory and to improve the clinician's ability to accurately interpret the cytology report and plan initial management of any abnormalities.