Candidate for the Lee B. Lusted Student Prize Competition
Method: Patients were surveyed after they had made the decision in favor or against having a colectomy. Their decisional conflict, decisional satisfaction and decisional regret were all measured along with their relationship to their referring physician. Bivariate correlations were conducted to understand the relationship between interactions with the doctor who recommended the colectomy and their thoughts about their decision to have or forgo the surgery.
Result: There was a negative correlation between shared decision making and decisional conflict r(89)=-.34, p=.001, between trust in the physician and decisional conflict r(89)=-.412, p<.0001, and between trust in the physician and decisional regret r(89)=-.283, p=.007. There was a positive correlation between trust in the physician and decisional satisfaction r(89)=.251, p=.017. There was no significant correlation between shared decision making and decisional regret or decisional satisfaction. The patterns of association remain the same when examined for those who elected to receive the surgery and those who did not.
Conclusion: The relationship with the treating physician is correlated with how patients feel about their decisions in retrospect. Trust in physician was significantly related to decisional regret, conflict and satisfaction. Interestingly, shared decision making wasn’t correlated with decisional regret or satisfaction. These results suggest that establishing trusting relationships between patients and physicians may be important in surgical decision making.