Patient Decision Aids

Patient decision aids are tools that help people become involved in decision making by making explicit the decision that needs to be made, providing information about the options and outcomes, and by clarifying personal values. They are designed to complement, rather than replace, counseling from a health practitioner. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute has developed a resource library and website of Patient Decision Aids for clinicians to use with patients.

How can I find decision aids?

• A to Z Inventory allows you to search for decision aids on particular health topics.
• Ottawa Personal/Family Decision Guides can be used for any health or social decision.
• Decision Aid Library Inventory (DALI) allows developers to enter informaton about their decision aids for inclusion in our inventories.

Where are the online tutorials?

• The Ottawa Decision Support Tutorial (ODST), to help practitioners develop knowledge in shared decision making (SDM) and decision support.
• The Ottawa Patient Decision Aid Development eTraining (ODAT) to help people create a patient decision aid using the Ottawa development process.
• The Implementation Toolkit provides tools and training for incorporating decision support in practice centres.

What’s the evidence?

• An international research group updates the systematic review of trials of patient decision aids for treatment or screening decisions using Cochrane review methods.
• The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration established a set of internationally approved criteria for determining the quality of patient decision aids.
• Report on The Ottawa Decision Support Framework: Update, Gaps and Research Priorities.
• Several evaluation measures (e.g. Decisional Conflict Scale, Decisional Needs Assessment in Populations) are available with user manuals.