Development and Feasibility Testing of a Decision Aid for Acute Appendicitis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Patients with acute uncomplicated appendicitis will be increasingly asked to choose between surgery and antibiotic management. We developed a novel decision aid for patients in the emergency department (ED) with acute appendicitis who are facing this choice. We describe the development of the decision aid and an initial feasibility study of its implementation in a busy tertiary care ED.

Materials and methods

We conducted a prepost survey analysis comparing patients before and after standardized implementation of the decision aid. Patients were surveyed about their experience making treatment decisions after discharge from the hospital. The primary outcome measure was the total score on the decisional conflict scale (; 0-100; lower scores better).

Results

SUBMITTER: Rosen JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10229438 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature