In June, the Indiana University Center for Bioethics was well represented at the annual meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM). This conference brings together experts who study medical decision making and interventions that seek to improve how doctors and patients collaborate in healthcare.
Peter Schwartz, MD, PhD, director of the Center, joined two panel presentations. One panel focused on the limits of how decision quality is measured. The other used real patient cases to show challenges in making shared decisions in medical settings.
Josh Rager, MD, IUCB, faculty investigator, gave two solo talks and joined a panel. His first talk explored how we measure risk for cardiovascular events and how statin treatment guidelines may not always match individual patient needs. His second talk focused on investigating how healthcare institutions follow guidelines to conduct shared decision making in complex cardiac procedures. He also joined a panel that discussed challenges in using shared decision making in conjunction with clinical guidelines.
Clayton Hicks, IUCB graduate assistant, presented a poster about creating a discussion card set to help patients and doctors talk through surgery options for osteosarcoma management.
The Center is proud of its members for sharing their work and ideas with the wider medical decision-making community.
