Shared Decision Making to Improve Goals of Care in the ED

Shared Decision Making to Improve Goals of Care Discussions in the Emergency Department

This project will develop and refine a shared decision making (SDM) intervention (decision aid tool) to improve and normalize high quality end of life discussions in the Emergency Department (ED) setting.

Develop a shared decision making (SDM) intervention informed by insights elicited from patients and clinicians to improve goals of care discussions.

The process of decision aid design involves: (1) review and synthesis of the evidence; (2) an analysis of usual practice through observation of clinical encounters; (3) development of an initial decision aid prototype; (4) field testing in the context of clinical care to gain insights on both intended and unintended effects of its use in practice to facilitate patient centered goals of care discussions; and (5) successive iterations of the decision aid until thematic saturation is reached and it is ready for testing in a clinical trial.

Inclusion:

1. Patients presenting to Mayo Clinic Rochester, Saint Marys' Emergency Department,
2. Patients at high risk for critical illness as determined by an Elderly Risk Assessment (ERA) score ≥ 16 or as determined by provider discretion,
3. ≥ 60 years of age,
4. Ability to provide informed consent,
5. Medically stable at the time of enrollment,
6. Able to participate without causing a delay in care.

Exclusion:

1. GCS scores < 15,
2. Signs of altered mental status,
3. Known to be pregnant,
4. Incarcerated or in Police Custody,
5. Communication barriers such as visual or hearing impairment that may preclude use of the decision aid.