E ffective patient-physician communication is essential for shared decision making, considered by some to be the “pinnacle” of patientcentered care. Many health care decisions have multiple options and no correct choice. These are called preference-sensitive decisions, and the optimal decision is one that takes into account patient preferences and values in a collaborative process with the phys...

R andomized controlled trials demonstrate that implantablecardioverter-defibrillators(ICDs)reduce mortalityincertainpatientswithsymptomaticheart failureandnohistoryof suddencardiacdeath(SCD). This trialevidencehasledtoguidelinesrecommendingplacement ofanICDforprimarySCDprevention inpatientswithheart failure meeting specific criteria. More patients are receivingICDtherapyasindicationsforthisther...

Contact me when new articles are published in these topic areas.

Type 2 diabetes remains an escalating problem worldwide, despite a range of treatments being available. The revelation that insulin secretion is under the control of a gut hormone, glucagon-like peptide 1, has led to a new paradigm in the management of type 2 diabetes, ie, use of medicines that directly stimulate or prolong the actions of endogenous glucagon-like peptide 1 at its receptors. Exe...

Patient treatment preferences are of growing interest to researchers, clinicians, and patients. In this review, an overview of the most commonly recommended treatments for depression is provided, along with a brief review of the evidence supporting their efficacy. Studies examining the effect of patient treatment preferences on treatment course and outcome are summarized. Existing literature on...

The leading treatments for postmenopausal osteoporosis are the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates, which are required long term for optimal benefit. Oral bisphosphonates have proven efficacy in postmenopausal osteoporosis in clinical trials, but in practice the therapeutic benefits are often compromised by patients' low adherence. Nonadherence to bisphosphonate therapy negatively impacts outco...

OBJECTIVE To assess the influence of disease activity of patients with rheumatoid arthritis on treatment choices of rheumatologists in countries with restricted access to expensive, innovative drugs. METHODS Rheumatologists from Hungary, Romania and UK were invited to complete two consecutive discrete choice experiments with hypothetical drug treatments for two different patient profiles: hig...

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. pISSN 1011-8934 eISSN 1598-6357 http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2014.29.7.1030 • J Korean Med...

BACKGROUND Making treatment decisions in anticipation of possible future incapacity is an important part of patient participation in end-of-life decision-making. This study estimates and compares the prevalence of GP-patient end-of-life treatment discussions and patients' appointment of surrogate decision-makers in Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands and examines associated factors. MET...

Cervical cytology is the prototype of a successful cancer screening test, yet debates continue as to the optimal frequency of screening and the use of new technologies. 1,2 The article by Raab et al 3 entitled " Willingness to Pay for New Papanicolaou Test Technologies " illustrates a new area of investigation for pathology. Too often in the past, pathologists have been stereotyped as preferrin...