Communication and Decision Making in Cancer Care: Setting Research Priorities for Decision Support/Patients' Decision Aids

Abstract

The following is a summary report from a special symposium titled, `Translating Research into Practice: Setting a Research Agenda for Clinical Decision Tools in Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment,` that was held on 23 October 2005 in San Francisco at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM). The symposium was designed to answer the question: `What are the top 2 research priorities in the field of patients' cancer-related decision aids?` After introductory remarks by Dr. Barry, each of four panelists-Drs. Hilary Llewellyn-Thomas, Ellen Peters, Laura Siminoff, and Dale Collins-addressed the question and provided their rationale during prepared remarks. The moderator, Dr. Michael Barry, then facilitated a discussion between the panelists, with input from the audience, to further explore and add to the various proposed research questions. Finally, Dr. Amber Barnato conducted a simple vote count (see Table 1) to prioritize the panelists' and the audience's recommendations.