Using behavioral economics to promote advanced directives for end of life care: a national study on message framing.

Advance directives (AD) are a crucial method for individuals to communicate their directions regarding medical decisions to their families and health care professionals when they are no longer able to make these decisions for themselves. However, not many individuals have an AD. We present the results of a survey-based experiment on how message framing (positive, negative and social norm) in educational videos affects (a) the individual's decision to acquire more information about an AD and (b) the change in stated likelihood of obtaining an AD. Our message framing is centered on the family burden aspect of end-of-life care. We also survey participants about which type of framing they view as more persuasive in terms of obtaining an AD. We find that participants who watched the negative framed video were more likely to request more information about ADs. However, for those who had not sought information on ADs prior to the study, positive framing has a small positive impact on the approximate change in stated likelihood of obtaining an AD. On average, positive framing is perceived as more convincing to obtain an AD. Ranking the positive framed video as first or second in terms of convincingness is correlated with self-reported creation of an AD, whereas ranking the negative framed video as first or second is correlated with not creating an AD.

Early experience with digital advance care planning and directives, a novel consumer-driven program.

Barriers to traditional advance care planning (ACP) and advance directive (AD) creation have limited the promise of ACP/AD for individuals and families, the healthcare team, and society. Our objectives were to determine the results of a digital ACP/AD through which consumers create, store, locate, and retrieve their ACP/AD at no charge and with minimal physician involvement, and the ACP/AD can be integrated into the electronic health record. The authors chose 900 users of MyDirectives, a digital ACP/AD tool, to achieve proportional representation of all 50 states by population size and then reviewed their responses. The 900 participants had an average age of 50.8 years (SD = 16.6); 84% of the men and 91% of the women were in self-reported good health when signing their ADs. Among the respondents, 94% wanted their physicians to consult a supportive and palliative care team if they were seriously ill; nearly 85% preferred cessation of life-sustaining treatments during their final days; 76% preferred to spend their final days at home or in a hospice; and 70% would accept attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation in limited circumstances. Most respondents wanted an autopsy under certain conditions, and 62% wished to donate their organs. In conclusion, analysis of early experience with this ACP/AD platform demonstrates that individuals of different ages and conditions can engage in an interrogatory process about values, develop ADs that are more nuanced than traditional paper-based ADs in reflecting those values, and easily make changes to their ADs. Online ADs have the potential to remove barriers to ACP/AD and thus further improve patient-centered end-of-life care.

Helping patients make better decisions: how to apply behavioral economics in clinical practice.

Clinicians are committed to effectively educating patients and helping them to make sound decisions concerning their own health care. However, how do clinicians determine what is effective education? How do they present information clearly and in a manner that patients understand and can use to make informed decisions? Behavioral economics (BE) is a subfield of economics that can assist clinicians to better understand how individuals actually make decisions. BE research can help guide interactions with patients so that information is presented and discussed in a more deliberate and impactful way. We can be more effective providers of care when we understand the factors that influence how our patients make decisions, factors of which we may have been largely unaware. BE research that focuses on health care and medical decision making is becoming more widely known, and what has been reported suggests that BE interventions can be effective in the medical realm. The purpose of this article is to provide clinicians with an overview of BE decision science and derived practice strategies to promote more effective behavior change in patients.

An evaluation of snake bites and antivenin use at a regional medical center.

Snake bites are a rare but challenging problem for surgeons. The purpose of our study was to evaluate our experience with snake bites at a regional medical center. We reviewed patients treated for snake bites from 2004 to July 2008. Demographics, clinical information, and outcomes were documented. Descriptive statistics were used, and chi2, t test, and Fisher exact test were used to compare patients based on antivenin use. A P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Over the study period, 126 patients presented to the emergency department with 44 (35%) requiring hospital admission. The average age was 38 years (range, 2 to 76 years); 66 per cent were male and 95 per cent white. Bites most commonly occurred in the summer and fall months with none from December through March. Copperhead bites accounted for 50 per cent of bites. An average of 4.8 vials of antivenin was given to 61 per cent of admitted patients with 93 per cent receiving the drug within 6 hours. Minor reactions to antivenin occurred in three patients (11%). Two patients required surgery (5%), and the readmission rate was 7 per cent. There was no known morbidity or mortality. When comparing patients who received antivenin with patients who did not, the only significant clinical variables were an increased prothrombin time (12.1 vs. 11.7, respectively; P = 0.048) and a longer length of hospital stay (3 vs. 1.8 days, P = 0.0006) in patients receiving antivenin. The majority of patients with snake bites can be treated with supportive care and antivenin when indicated. Antivenin use at our institution is largely based on physical findings and not related to laboratory values.