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Monday, October 20, 2008: 2:00 PM
Grand Ballroom D (Hyatt Regency Penns Landing)
Purpose: To assess and compare patients’ factual knowledge about nine types of medical decisions that they made within the previous two years.
Method: Using data from the DECISIONS survey, a nationwide random digit dial telephone survey about 9 types of common medical decisions, adults age 40 and older reported having discussed with their health care provider within the past two years the following conditions: initiation of prescription medications for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or depression; screening tests for colorectal, breast or prostate cancer; or surgeries for knee/hip replacement, cataracts, or lower back pain. Respondents answered 4-5 decision-specific knowledge questions that covered a select set of facts that experts identified as key information. Respondents also answered standard demographic questions and questions regarding what sources of information they used to learn about their medical conditions.
Results: 2,575 respondents indicated having considered at least 1 of the 9 medical decisions and were included in analyses. We identified significant knowledge deficits and variability in accuracy across a wide variety of factual questions within health conditions. For the majority of the decision types, fewer than half answered more than one of the knowledge questions correctly. For example, although 62% of respondents who considered taking cholesterol medications knew they would likely need to take cholesterol medication for the rest of their lives, only 17% knew the most common side effect of these drugs. Factual knowledge about similar concepts often varied significantly between different types of decisions. For example, while 78% of respondents who had considered cataract surgery knew how long it takes to recover from surgery, only 29% of patients considering back surgery knew its expected recovery time. Using logistic regression controlling for variations in the difficulty of each question, knowledge was lower for African Americans and higher for individuals who were married or who had more years of education. In addition, respondents who reported that they used the Internet to search for information had significantly higher knowledge than those who did not use the Internet (controlling for demographic covariates).
Conclusions: Patients had significant knowledge deficits about common medical decisions, suggesting that their decisions may not be adequately informed. Interventions to improve patient knowledge are indicated for the majority of patients, but may be especially relevant for less educated, African-American, and unmarried patients.
Method: Using data from the DECISIONS survey, a nationwide random digit dial telephone survey about 9 types of common medical decisions, adults age 40 and older reported having discussed with their health care provider within the past two years the following conditions: initiation of prescription medications for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or depression; screening tests for colorectal, breast or prostate cancer; or surgeries for knee/hip replacement, cataracts, or lower back pain. Respondents answered 4-5 decision-specific knowledge questions that covered a select set of facts that experts identified as key information. Respondents also answered standard demographic questions and questions regarding what sources of information they used to learn about their medical conditions.
Results: 2,575 respondents indicated having considered at least 1 of the 9 medical decisions and were included in analyses. We identified significant knowledge deficits and variability in accuracy across a wide variety of factual questions within health conditions. For the majority of the decision types, fewer than half answered more than one of the knowledge questions correctly. For example, although 62% of respondents who considered taking cholesterol medications knew they would likely need to take cholesterol medication for the rest of their lives, only 17% knew the most common side effect of these drugs. Factual knowledge about similar concepts often varied significantly between different types of decisions. For example, while 78% of respondents who had considered cataract surgery knew how long it takes to recover from surgery, only 29% of patients considering back surgery knew its expected recovery time. Using logistic regression controlling for variations in the difficulty of each question, knowledge was lower for African Americans and higher for individuals who were married or who had more years of education. In addition, respondents who reported that they used the Internet to search for information had significantly higher knowledge than those who did not use the Internet (controlling for demographic covariates).
Conclusions: Patients had significant knowledge deficits about common medical decisions, suggesting that their decisions may not be adequately informed. Interventions to improve patient knowledge are indicated for the majority of patients, but may be especially relevant for less educated, African-American, and unmarried patients.