Thursday, May 15

Through The Eyes of The Patient: The Quality and Safety Imperative for Informed Medical Decision Making

Michael J. Barry, MD is Chief of the General Medicine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital , Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Medical Director of the Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation at MGH. Dr. Barry has been President of the Society for Medical Decision-Making (SMDM) and the Society of General Internal Medicine. His research interests include the evaluation and treatment of prostate disease, health status measurement, technology assessment, and the use of decision aids to facilitate patients’ participation in decision-making.

Floyd J. Fowler, Jr., PhD is a social scientist who specializes in survey research methods; he has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research, UMass Boston since 1971. Dr. Fowler has been a major contributor to research on patient outcomes, and on how patients are affected by the treatments they receive. He has worked with the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making since its inception on the dual tasks of understanding patient perspectives on treatment decisions and evaluating the programs designed to help patients make decisions. In early 2002, he was chosen to be President of the Foundation.

Drs. Barry and Fowler will present research findings from the first national study on the quality of decision making in the US. This session will also feature two patients from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and their perspectives on the quality and safety implications of informed medical decision making.

When a patient is fully informed of risks and benefits and individual preferences are acknowledged, the medical decision making process can have life changing results. Several patients share their personal stories and shed light on the vital importance and value of informed medical decision making that is truly “patient-centered”.

Members of the Institute will present their inaugural report, which will provide focus for future Institute Roundtables. Further discussion with attendees will occur at Friday’s breakfast roundtables, facilitated by Institute Members.

Members of the Institute include:

Lucian L. Leape, MD
Chair, Lucian L. Leape Institute Adjunct Professor of Health Policy Harvard School of Public Health

Lucian L. Leape, MD

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP
President and CEO Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Carolyn M. Clancy, MD
Director Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

James B. Conway, MAM, CHE
Senior Fellow Institute for Healthcare Improvement

David Lawrence, MD
Chairman and CEO (retired) Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Julianne Morath, RN, MS
Chief Operating Officer Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

Dennis O’Leary, MD
President Emeritus, The Joint Commission