Heidemarie Keller

Absolute Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Shared Decision Making in Primary Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE We wanted to determine the effect of promoting the effective communication of absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and shared decision making through disseminating a simple decision aid for use in family practice consultations. METHODS The study was based on a pragmatic, cluster randomized controlled trial (phase III) with continuing medical education (CME) groups of family physicians as the unit of randomization. In the intervention arm, 44 physicians (7 CME groups) consecutively recruited 550 patients in whom cholesterol levels were measured. Forty-seven physicians in the control arm (7 CME groups) similarly included 582 patients. Four hundred sixty patients (83.6%) of the intervention arm and 466 patients (80.1%) of the control arm were seen at follow-up. Physicians attended 2 interactive CME sessions and received a booklet, a paper-based risk calculator, and individual summary sheets for each patient. Control physicians attended 1 CME-session on an alternative topic. Main outcome measures were patient satisfaction and participation after the index consultation, change in CVD risk status, and decisional regret at 6 months’ follow-up. RESULTS Intervention patients were significantly more satisfied with process and result (Patient Participation Scale, difference 0.80, P<.001). Decisional regret was significantly lower at follow-up (difference 3.39, P = .02). CVD risk decreased in both groups without a significant difference between study arms. CONCLUSION A simple transactional decision aid based on calculating absolute individual CVD risk and promoting shared decision making in CVD prevention can be disseminated through CME groups and may lead to higher patient satisfaction and involvement and less decisional regret, without negatively affecting global CVD risk.

The Course of Nonspecific Chest Pain in Primary Care: Symptom Persistence and Health Care Usage

BACKGROUND Nonspecific chest pain is common in primary care, yet knowledge is sparse about its course and outcome and how they relate to optimum health care usage. We investigated the following observations: (1) many patients who present with nonspecific chest pain in primary care show symptom persistence for 6 months, (2) many patients with nonspecific chest pain showed signs of overinvestigation, and (3) many patients with chronic chest pain were referred to mental health specialists. METHODS We conducted a prospective, general physician-based cohort study with 6-week and 6-month follow-ups in 74 primary care offices in Hessen, Germany. Of approximately 190 000 consecutive patients who visited their general physicians from October 1, 2005, to July 31, 2006, 807 patients with nonspecific chest pain were identified by an expert committee (delayed-type reference standard). The dropout rate was 2.7%. Main outcome measures were persistent chest pain at a 6-month follow-up visit and health care usage at 6 months. RESULTS The rate of persistent chest pain was 55.5%. A total of 10.7% of patients had inappropriate health care usage, defined as 2 or more visits to a cardiologist or 3 or more cardiac diagnostic investigations. Most patients with persistent nonspecific chest pain were referred to a cardiologist, and less than 2% were referred to mental health specialists. CONCLUSIONS For most patients with nonspecific chest pain, standard medical care does not offer sufficient help for symptom relief. One-tenth of patients with persistent chest pain underwent additional diagnostic testing of no known clinical benefit. Psychological referrals were rarely given.

The theory of planned behaviour in a randomized trial of a decision aid on cardiovascular risk prevention.

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility and outcome of measuring the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in patients receiving routine counselling versus counselling with a decision aid (DA) during primary care consultation on cardiovascular risk prevention. METHODS A DA was developed, based on models of shared decision-making (SDM) and the TPB. We evaluated the impact of the intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Main outcomes were previously reported. To assess the intermediate social cognitive processes and our theoretical framework, we evaluated the impact of the intervention on a TPB scale. RESULTS The TPB scale showed satisfactory measurement properties. Factor analysis (main component analysis, confirmatory model) could mostly replicate the assumptions of the model. 44% of variance of the behavioural intention to adhere to the decision after counselling was explained in linear regression models. Of the TPB components, only attitude towards the decision and moral norm were significantly more positive in the intervention. No difference was found with regard to intention to adhere to the decision. High risk resulted in higher values of the TPB components in both groups. CONCLUSION Most DAs are developed and tested without explicitly referring to a theoretical model of psychosocial processes. The TPB may serve as a useful theoretical framework. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Trials on DAs demonstrate positive effects on psychological outcomes of patients without leading to better objective health results. Our study might contribute to an explanation: DAs might not cause stronger adherence to decisions even though ones attitude towards the decision becomes more positive.

Satisfaction of Patients and Primary Care Physicians With Shared Decision Making

Satisfaction with treatment is regarded as an important outcome measure, but its suitability has not been thoroughly investigated in the context of shared decision making (SDM). The authors evaluated whether both patients’ and physicians’ satisfaction ratings differ between an intervention group and a control group within a structured tool for cardiovascular prevention (ARRIBA-Herz). In a pragmatic, cluster-randomized, controlled trial, 44 family physicians in the intervention group consecutively recruited 550 patients whereas 47 physicians in the control group included 582 patients. Main findings were high satisfaction ratings independent of group allocation in patients and physicians. Significant differences had only negligible effect sizes. Compared to global satisfaction ratings, the effects of the shared decision-making process are better measured by a more concrete approach representing different steps of this process. Further research should refine behaviorally oriented questionnaires that measure SDM and a version for physicians should also be created.

Reliability and validity of the German version of the OPTION scale.

Objective  To examine the psychometric properties of the German version of the ‘observing patient involvement’ scale (OPTION) by analysing video recordings of primary care consultations dealing with counselling in cardiovascular prevention.

Arriba: effects of an educational intervention on prescribing behaviour in prevention of CVD in general practice

Background: Evidence on the effectiveness of educational interventions on prescribing behaviour modification in prevention of cardiovascular disease is still insufficient. We evaluated the effects of a brief educational intervention on prescription of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), inhibitors of platelet aggregation (IPA), and antihypertensive agents (AH). Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial with continuous medical education (CME) groups of general practitioners (GPs). Methods: Prescription of statins, IPA, and AH were verified prior to study start (BL), immediately after index consultation (IC), and at follow-up after 6 months (FU). Prescription in patients at high risk (>15% risk of a cardiovascular event in 10 years, based on the Framingham equation) and no prescription in low-risk patients (≤ 15%) were considered appropriate. Results: An intervention effect on prescribing could only be found for IPA. Generally, changes in prescription over time were all directed towards higher prescription rates and persisted to FU, independent of risk status and group allocation. Conclusions: The active implementation of a brief evidence-based educational intervention on global risk in CVD did not lead directly to risk-adjusted changes in prescription. Investigations on an extended time scale would capture whether decision support of this kind would improve prescribing risk-adjusted sustainably.

Arriba-lib: evaluation of an electronic library of decision aids in primary care physicians.

BackgroundThe successful implementation of decision aids in clinical practice initially depends on how clinicians perceive them. Relatively little is known about the acceptance of decision aids by physicians and factors influencing the implementation of decision aids from their point of view. Our electronic library of decision aids (arriba-lib) is to be used within the encounter and has a modular structure containing evidence-based decision aids for the following topics: cardiovascular prevention, atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, oral antidiabetics, conventional and intensified insulin therapy, and unipolar depression. The aim of our study was to evaluate the acceptance of arriba-lib in primary care physicians.MethodsWe conducted an evaluation study in which 29 primary care physicians included 192 patients. The physician questionnaire contained information on which module was used, how extensive steps of the shared decision making process were discussed, who made the decision, and a subjective appraisal of consultation length. We used generalised estimation equations to measure associations within patient variables and traditional crosstab analyses.ResultsOnly a minority of consultations (8.9%) was considered to be unacceptably extended. In 90.6% of consultations, physicians said that a decision could be made. A shared decision was perceived by physicians in 57.1% of consultations. Physicians said that a decision was more likely to be made when therapeutic options were discussed “detailed”. Prior experience with decision aids was not a critical variable for implementation within our sample of primary care physicians.ConclusionsOur study showed that it might be feasible to apply our electronic library of decision aids (arriba-lib) in the primary care context. Evidence-based decision aids offer support for physicians in the management of medical information. Future studies should monitor the long-term adoption of arriba-lib in primary care physicians.

arriba-lib: Analyses of user interactions with an electronic library of decision aids on the basis of log data

Computerised log files are important for analysing user behaviour in health informatics to gain insight into processes that lead to suboptimal user patterns. This is important for software training programmes or for changes to improve usability. Technical user behaviour regarding decision aids has not so far been thoroughly investigated with log files. The aim of our study was to examine more detailed user interactions of primary-care physicians and their patients with arriba-lib, our multimodular electronic library of decision aids used during consultations, on the basis of log data. We analysed 184 consultation log files from 28 primary-care physicians. The average consultation time of our modules was about 8 min. Two-thirds of the consultation time were spent in the history information part of the programme. In this part, mainly bar charts were used to display risk information. Our electronic library of decision aids does not generate specific user behaviour based on physician characteristics such as age, gender, years in practice, or prior experience with decision aids. This supports the widespread use of our e-library in the primary-care sector and probably beyond.

71 THE COURSE OF UNSPECIFIC CHEST PAIN: SYMPTOM PERSISTENCE AND INAPPROPRIATE REFERRALS

of each item to discriminate fibromyalgia and other chronic rheumatologic syndromes. Results: Analysis of the metrologic properties of the FiRST questionnaire allowed to exclude four items from the initial version and identified the 6 most discriminative items. We confirmed that the 6-item FiRST questionnaire has excellent properties to discriminate FMS. Conclusion: FiRST is a new, simple and easy-to-use questionnaire with good sensitivity and specificity to detect patients with FMS. It may help physicians to detect FMS patients, for a better and earlier management both in clinical research and daily practice.