martes, 9 de abril de 2019

Should I, or should I not? The 'tricky business' about healthcare decision making - BMC Series blog

Should I, or should I not? The 'tricky business' about healthcare decision making - BMC Series blog

Alix Hall, Anthony Proietto & Anne Herrmann

Alix Hall, Anthony Proietto & Anne Herrmann

Dr Hall has an undergraduate honours degree in psychology and a PhD in health behaviour science in relation to medicine. Dr Hall has over 10 years’ experience working as a health behaviour researcher, where she has been involved in designing and conducting research studies that focus on understanding and improving the lives of people affected by chronic illness. In 2014 she completed her PhD in health behaviour science in relation to medicine. Her thesis focused on the identifying the unmet needs of haematological cancer survivors. Dr Hall currently works as a statistician within the Clinical Research Design, IT and Statistical Support (CReDITSS) unit of the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI). Her main research interests include statistics, research methodology, psychometrics and understanding and improving the wellbeing of different population groups.

Associate Professor Anthony (Tony) Proietto is a gynaecological oncologist.Tony established the Gynaecological Oncology service at John Hunter Hospital in 1991 and was Director of it until 2010. Tony has previously held the presidency of the Australian Society of Gynaecologic Oncologists (ASGO), an organisation which represents the gynaecological oncologists of Australia and New Zealand. Tony is currently the Director of the Cancer Network, Hunter New England Local Health District.

Dr Herrmann is a postdoctoral researcher working in the area of health services research. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in communications and a PhD in behavioural science in relation to medicine. Dr Herrmann has a special interest in mixed-methods studies to help improve doctor-patient-communication. Her PhD thesis focused on patient-centred decision making in cancer care. Dr Herrmann is currently working as José Carreras Research Fellow at the Department of Haematology and Internal Oncology at the University Hospital Regensburg, Germany. A part of this role she is developing strategies to support doctor-patient-communication related to stem cell transplants. Dr Herrmann is also a Conjoint Lecturer at the Faculty of Health and Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Australia.


Should I, or should I not? The ‘tricky business’ about healthcare decision making

When faced with difficult healthcare decisions, many patients feel overwhelmed or unable to make a decision. A recent paper in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirthexplored the decision-making process of women faced with the choice of having surgery to reduce ovarian cancer risk. In this blog post, the authors present a hypothetical patient and discuss the difficulties she faces in making this difficult decision.
We often put a lot of effort into making important decisions for our lives. We ponder things like: “Should I apply for this new job?”“Should I buy this car?”, or maybe even “Where should we go for our next holiday?”
We often spend lots of time gathering information on our options. We seek advice from loved ones, ‘sleep on it,’ and weigh up the pros and cons of each option to find out what is the right decision for us.

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