The impact of a decision aid about heart disease prevention on patients' discussions with their doctor and their plans for prevention: a pilot randomized trial

• HIT Description: Patient decision support More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: to test the effects on patient coronary heart disease prevention decision making of a newly developed computerized patient clinical decision aid
  
• Years of study: Not Available
  
• Study Design: RCT
  
• Outcomes: planned risk reduction activities
  

• Settings: convenience sample of 75 adults without a diagnosis of heart disease, mean age was 53, 59% female, more than half had low CHD risk (less than 10% at 10 years)
• Intervention: ÒHeart-to-HeartÓ, a newly developed computerized decision aid that calculates a patient's global risk of coronary disease based on Framingham data, provides patients with individualized information, their personal risk factors, and information about risk-reducing therapies; compared to patients receiving only a list their risk factors
• Evaluation Method: RCT with survey of patients about whether they discussed CHD prevention with their doctor and planned CHD reduction activities
• Quality of Care and Patient Safety Outcome: 16% more patients in the decision aid group reported having talked with their patient about cardiac risk reduction, and 13% more had a specific plan, but neither difference reached conventional levels of statistical significance.