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Use of decision analysis in a family practice residency for a patient with an abdominal aortic aneurysm
1West Jersey Family Practice Residency, Tatem-Brown Family Practice Center, Voorhees, NJ, USA.
Background:
A patient at the Tatem-Brown Family Practice Center with many medical problems asked for advice about elective surgical resection of a large abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Methods:
The best course of action was not obvious, so a decision tree was constructed using data from the medical literature and the patient's rating of several quality of life issues.
Results:
Elective surgery was the optimal choice for this patient, but the decision was sensitive to values chosen for two variables in the decision model.
Conclusion:
Decision analysis has benefits in a family practice residency. Residents become familiar with vigorous literature review and decision-analytic tools and principles. They gain a deeper knowledge of the patient, due to the need to understand the patient's relative values for potential outcomes of medical intervention.