The role of time in involving patients with cancer in treatment decision making: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Time is often perceived as a barrier to shared decision making in cancer care. It remains unclear how time functions as a barrier and how it could be most effectively utilized. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aimed to describe the role of time in patient involvement, and identify strategies to overcome time-related barriers. METHODS: Seven databases were searched for any publications on patient involvement in cancer treatment decisions, focusing on how time is used to involve patients, the association between time and patient involvement, and/or strategies to overcome time-related barriers. Reviewers worked independently and in duplicate to select publications and extract data. One coder thematically analyzed data, a second coder checked these analyses. RESULTS: The analysis of 26 eligible publications revealed four themes. Time was a resource 1) to process the diagnosis, 2) to obtain/process/consider information, 3) for patients and clinicians to spend together, and 4) for patient involvement in making decisions. DISCUSSION: Time is a resource throughout the treatment decision-making process, and generic strategies have been proposed to overcome time constraints. PRACTICE VALUE: Clinicians could co-create decision-making timelines with patients, spread decisions across several consultations, share written information with patients, and support healthcare redesigns that allocate the necessary time.

Does the duration of ambulatory consultations affect the quality of healthcare? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The objective is to examine and synthesise the best available experimental evidence about the effect of ambulatory consultation duration on quality of healthcare. METHODS: We included experimental studies manipulating the length of outpatient clinical encounters between adult patients and clinicians (ie, therapists, pharmacists, nurses, physicians) to determine their effect on quality of care (ie, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, safety, equity, patient-centredness and patient satisfaction). INFORMATION SOURCES: Using controlled vocabulary and keywords, without restriction by language or year of publication, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Database of Systematic Reviews and Scopus from inception until 15 May 2023. RISK OF BIAS: Cochrane Risk of Bias instrument. DATA SYNTHESIS: Narrative synthesis. RESULTS: 11 publications of 10 studies explored the relationship between encounter duration and quality. Most took place in the UK's general practice over two decades ago. Study findings based on very sparse and outdated evidence-which suggested that longer consultations improved indicators of patient-centred care, education about prevention and clinical referrals; and that consultation duration was inconsistently related to patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes-warrant low confidence due to limited protections against bias and indirect applicability to current practice. CONCLUSION: Experimental evidence for a minimal or optimal duration of an outpatient consultation is sparse and outdated. To develop evidence-based policies and practices about encounter length, randomised trials of different consultation lengths-in person and virtually, and with electronic health records-are needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: OSF Registration DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/EUDK8.

Challenges to acquire similar learning outcomes across four parallel thematic learning communities in a medical undergraduate curriculum.

BACKGROUND: To train physicians who are able to meet the evolving requirements from health care, the University of Groningen Medical Center adopted in 2014 a new curriculum named G2020. This curriculum combines thematic learning communities with competency-based medical education and Problem-based learning. In the learning community program, different learning tasks were used to train general competencies. The challenge of this program was whether students acquire similar levels of learning outcomes within the different variations of the program. METHOD: We used the assessment results of three cohorts for the first two bachelor years. We used progress tests and written tests to analyze knowledge development, and the assessment results of seven competencies to analyze competence development. Concerning knowledge, we used the cumulative deviation method to compare progress tests and used the Kruskal-Wallis H test to compare written test scores between programs. Descriptive statistics are used to present all assessments of the students' competencies. RESULTS: We observed similarly high passing rates both for competency and knowledge assessments in all programs. However, we did observe some differences. The two programs that focused more on competencies development underperformed the other two programs on knowledge assessment but outperformed on competencies assessment. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that it is possible to train students in different learning programs within one curriculum while having similar learning outcomes. There are however some differences in obtained levels between the different programs. The new curriculum still needs to improve by balancing variations in the programs and comparability of assessments across the programs.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and frailty in later life: a prospective population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The deficit accumulation method considers the ageing process underlying frailty as a random accumulation of health deficits. OBJECTIVE: Although Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) have consistently been associated with the onset of mental disorders and somatic diseases during adolescence and midlife, it remains unknown whether ACE still exert detrimental health effects in late life. Therefore, we examined cross-sectionally and prospectively the association between ACE and frailty among community-dwelling older people. DESIGN: Based on the health-deficit accumulation method, a Frailty Index was calculated with values ≥0.25 considered as frail. ACE were measured by a validated questionnaire. The cross-sectional association was examined by logistic regression among 2,176 community dwelling participants aged 58-89 years. The prospective association was examined by Cox-regression among 1,427 non-frail participants during a 17-year follow-up. Interactions with age and sex were tested and analyses were adjusted for potential confounders. SETTING: The present study was embedded in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. RESULTS: ACE and frailty were positively associated at baseline (OR = 1.88; 95% CI = 1.46-2.42; P = 0.05). Among non-frail participants at baseline (n = 1,427), ACE interacted with age on the prediction of frailty. Stratified analyses showed that a history of ACE only resulted in a higher hazard rate for the incidence of frailty among those aged ≥70 years (HR = 1.28; P = 0.044). CONCLUSION: Even in the oldest-old, ACE still lead to an accelerated rate of the accumulation of health deficits and therefore contribute to the onset of frailty.

Disparities in Shared Decision-Making Research and Practice: The Case for Black American Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The extent of shared decision making (SDM) use in the care of Black patients is limited. We explored preferences, needs, and challenges of Black patients to enhance SDM offerings. METHODS: We performed interviews with 32 Black patients receiving type 2 diabetes care in safety-net primary care practices caring predominantly for Black people. RESULTS: The following 4 themes emerged: preference for humanistic communication, need to account for the role of family in decision making, need for medical information sharing, and mistrust of clinicians. CONCLUSION: Given the dearth of research on SDM among ethnic and racial minorities, this study offers patient-perspective recommendations to improve SDM offerings for Black patients in primary care settings. To enhance SDM with Black patients, acknowledgment of the importance of storytelling as a strategy, to place medical information in a context that makes it meaningful and memorable, is recommended. Triadic SDM, in which family members are centrally involved in decision making, is preferred over classical dyadic SDM. There is a need to reconsider the universalism assumption underlying contemporary SDM models and the relevancy of current SDM practices that were developed mostly without the feedback of participants of ethnic, racial, and cultural minorities.Annals "Online First" article.

Glucose variability and mood in adults with diabetes: A systematic review.

Aims: To systematically review the literature regarding the association between glucose variability (GV) and mood in adults with diabetes, appraise the used methods and make suggestions for future research. Methods: A systematic review of literature published up to May 2019 was performed. Abstracts and full texts were screened independently in duplicate. Experimental and observational studies reporting the association between GV and mood in adults with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes were evaluated. A descriptive analysis of the extracted data was conducted, along with a quality assessment. Results: Out of the 2.316 studies screened, eight studies met our criteria. Studies used a variety of measures and metrics to determine GV and mood. Four studies used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). An association between GV and mood was found in four studies when correlating either postprandial glucose rate of increase with current mood or multiday GV with mood measured retrospectively. The other four studies did not find any association. Conclusions: There is no clear empirical support for a link between GV and mood in adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. More rigorous research is warranted using CGM and ecological momentary assessment of mood to assess if and under what conditions an association between GV and mood exists.

Crafting Care That Fits: Workload and Capacity Assessments Complementing Decision Aids in Implementing Shared Decision Making.

About 42% of adults have one or more chronic conditions and 23% have multiple chronic conditions. The coordination and integration of services for the management of patients living with multimorbidity is important for care to be efficient, safe, and less burdensome. Minimally disruptive medicine may optimize this coordination and integration. It is a patient-centered approach to care that focuses on achieving patient goals for life and health by seeking care strategies that fit a patient's context and are minimally disruptive and maximally supportive. The cumulative complexity model practically orients minimally disruptive medicine-based care. In this model, the patient workload-capacity imbalance is the central mechanism driving patient complexity. These elements should be accounted for when making decisions for patients with chronic conditions. Therefore, in addition to decision aids, which may guide shared decision making, we propose to discuss and clarify a potential workload-capacity imbalance.

Improving interpretability of individual Diabetes Symptom Checklist-Revised (DSC-R) scores: the role of patient characteristics.

INTRODUCTION: The Diabetes Symptom Checklist-Revised (DSC-R) is a well-validated patient-reported outcome designed to assess symptom burden in persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) across eight domains. The DSC-R has so far primarily been used in research settings. With the aim to make the DSC-R applicable in clinical practice by improving its interpretability, we sought to identify patient characteristics associated with DSC-R (domain) scores as a first initiative toward reference values. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used baseline data from two large observational studies to select patient characteristics significantly associated with DSC-R domain and total scores. Multivariable Tobit analyses with the backward procedure per (domain) score were performed. RESULTS: Data from 1531 participants with T2DM were included. On a 0-100 scale, the median DSC-R total score was 15.88 (7.06-29.41), with domain scores ranging from 5.00 (0.00-22.50) (pain) to 35.00 (10.00-60.00) (fatigue). Low well-being status was most profoundly associated with higher scores across all domains. Persons with one or more complication, as well as one or more symptomatic hypoglycemic episode during the past 3 months, scored higher on (almost) all domains and the total scale. CONCLUSIONS: Complications, symptomatic hypoglycemia, and low well-being are important characteristics to take into account when using the DSC-R in individual patients. Further validation of our findings is warranted in diverse patient populations.

Decision aids that facilitate elements of shared decision making in chronic illnesses: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Shared decision making (SDM) is a patient-centered approach in which clinicians and patients work together to find and choose the best course of action for each patient's particular situation. Six SDM key elements can be identified: situation diagnosis, choice awareness, option clarification, discussion of harms and benefits, deliberation of patient preferences, and making the decision. The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) require that a decision aid (DA) support these key elements. Yet, the extent to which DAs support these six key SDM elements and how this relates to their impact remain unknown. METHODS: We searched bibliographic databases (from inception until November 2017), reference lists of included studies, trial registries, and experts for randomized controlled trials of DAs in patients with cardiovascular, or chronic respiratory conditions or diabetes. Reviewers worked in duplicate and independently selected studies for inclusion, extracted trial, and DA characteristics, and evaluated the quality of each trial. RESULTS: DAs most commonly clarified options (20 of 20; 100%) and discussed their harms and benefits (18 of 20; 90%; unclear in two DAs); all six elements were clearly supported in 4 DAs (20%). We found no association between the presence of these elements and SDM outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: DAs for selected chronic conditions are mostly designed to transfer information about options and their harms and benefits. The extent to which their support of SDM key elements relates to their impact on SDM outcomes could not be ascertained. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016050320 .

Sports participation and health-related quality of life in children: results of a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: In children physical activity has been shown to be associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study further explores this association for specific characteristics of sports participation, namely membership of a sports club, frequency of sports participation, performing individual versus team sports, performing indoor versus outdoor sports, while differentiating between specific dimensions in the physical, psychological and social domain of HRQoL. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected from Dutch primary school children aged 10 to 12 years. They completed the Movement and Sports Monitor Questionnaire Youth aged 8 to 12 years (MSMQ) and the KIDSCREEN-52, an HRQoL questionnaire for children and adolescents. The data were examined using linear multilevel analyses because of the clustering of children in schools. RESULTS: The questionnaires were completed by 1876 children (response rate 81.3%). Membership of a sports club, moderate or high frequency of sports participation, and performing outdoor sports were all significantly associated with better HRQoL. These associations were largely found in the physical domain of HRQoL, to a lesser degree in the social domain, and to a limited extent in the psychological domain. CONCLUSION: The association between sports participation and HRQoL in children depends on both characteristics of sports participation and the domain of life that is concerned. These differences offer starting points for developing tailor-made sports programs for children.

Improved diabetes medication convenience and satisfaction in persons with type 2 diabetes after switching to insulin glargine 300 U/mL: results of the observational OPTIN-D study.

OBJECTIVE: Insulin glargine 300 (Gla-300) provides less hypoglycemia risk and more flexibility in injection time. The extent to which these effects translate into improved patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is unknown, and is the subject of this observational study. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Adults with type 2 diabetes treated with basal insulin for at least 6 months initiating Gla-300 were included. Data were collected at baseline (start Gla-300) and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up. Patients and physicians gave reasons for switching to Gla-300 at baseline and the extent to which Gla-300 fulfilled their expectations at 6 months. Mixed model analyses examined PRO changes over time, with emotional well-being (WHO-5 Well-Being Index) as the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes were hypoglycemia incidence, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), hypoglycemia worries (worry subscale of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey), diabetes distress (short form of the Dutch version of the Problem Areas In Diabetes Scale), diabetes medication convenience (Diabetes Medication System Rating Questionnaire (DMSRQ)), sleep quality and duration (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and adherence (Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities). RESULTS: 162 patients participated: 53.70% were men, the mean age was 65.54 years (9.05), baseline mean HbA1c was 7.87% (1.15) (62.48 mmol/mol (12.61)), and mean diabetes duration was 15.14 years (6.65). Mean WHO-5 Well-Being Index scores improved non-significantly from 61.94 (19.52) at baseline (T0) to 63.83 (19.67) at 6 months (T2). Mean DMSRQ scores improved significantly from 32.96 (9.02) (T0) to 36.70 (8.85) (T2) (p<0.001). Dose (less volume) was a switching reason in 69.60% of patients and 63% of physicians, and flexibility in 33.30% and 24.70%, respectively. Gla-300 fulfilled the expectations or even better than expected in 92.30% of patients and 88.90% of physicians. CONCLUSION: In a relatively well-controlled sample of adults with type 2 diabetes, switching to Gla-300 improves diabetes medication convenience.

A systematic review of decision aids that facilitate elements of shared decision-making in chronic illnesses: a review protocol.

BACKGROUND: Shared decision-making (SDM) is a patient-centred approach in which clinicians and patients work side-by-side to decide together on the best course of action for each patient's particular situation. Six key elements of SDM can be distinguished: situation diagnosis, choice awareness, option clarification, discussion of harms and benefits, deliberation of patient preferences and making the decision. Decision aids (DAs) are tools that facilitate SDM. The impact of DAs for chronic illnesses on SDM, clinical and patient reported outcomes remains uncertain. METHODS: We will perform a systematic review aiming to describe (a) which SDM elements are incorporated in DAs for adult patients with chronic conditions and (b) the effects of DA use on SDM, clinical and patient reported outcomes. This manuscript reports on the protocol for this systematic review. The following databases will be searched for relevant articles: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL and PsycINFO, from their inception to October 2016. We will ascertain ongoing research by querying experts and searching trial registries. To enhance feasibility, we will limit the review to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including patients with chronic cardiovascular and/or respiratory diseases and/or diabetes. SDM elements incorporated in DAs, DA effects and DA itself will be described. DISCUSSION: This study will characterize DAs for chronic illness and will provide an overview of their effects on SDM, clinical and patient reported outcomes. We anticipate this review will bring to light knowledge gaps and inform further research into the design and use of DAs for patients with chronic conditions. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016050320 .