Surgery Decision Guides: Simplifying a Complex Decision Making Process for Patients

Surgery decision guides are graphical communication tools (aka infograms) to help patients in making decisions regarding medical treatment. They can help patients make informed choices about surgery—meaning having a basic understanding of the surgical problem, what non-operative treatments are available, and the risks. 

Studies have shown there is there is often a discrepancy between a patient’s understanding of a given procedure and how much the surgeon thinks the patient understands the procedure. In other words, surgeons may think a patient fully comprehends a surgical plan, when in some cases they still need more information. As a surgeon, I want my patients to have a clear understanding of my thought process and their options so that they can make the decision that is right for them. Surgical decision guides can help close the gap in communication between patient and surgeon by providing a simple overlay of how surgeons make choices. They are designed to quickly give an overview of your treatment options for a condition in an easy to digest format.  

I was not aware of any surgery decision guides for the spine and created these two, single page guides to simplify the decision-making process to share with my patients—one for cervical surgery, and one for lumbar surgery. Let me know what you think!