Improving Health Care by Understanding Patient Preferences
The Role of Computer Technology
- Correspondence and reprints: Patricia F. Brennan, RN, PhD, FAAN, Bascom Moehlman Professor, School of Nursing and College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1513 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. e-mail: 〈pbrennan{at}engr.wisc.edu〉
- Received 23 December 1997
- Accepted 20 January 1998
Abstract
If nurses, physicians, and health care planners knew more about patients' health-related preferences, care would most likely be cheaper, more effective, and closer to the individuals' desires. In order for patient preferences to be effectively used in the delivery of health care, it is important that patients be able to formulate and express preferences, that these judgments be made known to the clinician at the time of care, and that these statements meaningfully inform care activities. Decision theory and health informatics offer promising strategies for eliciting subjective values and making them accessible in a clinical encounter in a manner that drives health choices. Computer-based elicitation and reporting tools are proving acceptable to patients and clinicians alike. It is time for the informatics community to turn their attention toward building computer-based applications that support clinicians in the complex cognitive process of integrating patient preferences with scientific knowledge, clinical practice guidelines, and the realities of contemporary health care.
Footnotes
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This was funded in part by the Lillian S. Moehlman/Bascom Professorship (PFB) and the Graduate School, University of Wisconsin at Madison.
The invited paper was presented at the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Nursing Informatics '97 Working Conference, “Informatics and Patient and Clinical Guidelines: The State of Our Knowledge and a Vision,” Stockholm, Sweden, October 2-4, 1997.
