Table 3 Description of existing tools for empowerment of patients
Description | Valuable components that were used in the preparatory tool | Components not feasible for older population with MCC in geriatric consultations | |
|---|---|---|---|
Toolbox Person-centred care [22] | This toolbox aims at supporting people with chronic diseases in primary care consultations. It addresses agenda setting, discusses goals and actions and follow-up. It consists of a part for general practitioners and a part for patients. In the part for patients, patients are explicitly invited to participate in SDM. It stimulates patients to think about what they want to discuss in the consultation. Topics raised by ‘fellow patients’ are given as an example. It emphasizes the teamwork between patient and health professional during the consultation when discussing different options, pros and cons and personal preferences. The tool also comprises space for a follow-up plan. The tool refers more to self-management and lifestyle changes and seems less suitable when facing medical decisions at the outpatient geriatric clinic. | Agenda setting | Aim at primary care |
Goal setting | |||
Invitation to SDM | |||
Emphasize teamwork | Focus on disease management and lifestyle changes | ||
This is an extensive website aiming at awareness of what is important for patients and helps thinking about personal goals. It provides patients with a final print that they can bring to the clinical encounter. However, it requires moderate digital health literacy from patients, which is not yet common among all geriatric outpatients. | Goal setting | Requiring digital health literacy | |
Thinking about quality of life | |||
Patient’s Action Communication Card PAC-card [24] | A PAC-card can be used by patients during a clinical encounter as a checklist to help them ask questions about their problem and treatment. It has an informative character and focuses on the problem of that actual moment. It does not address the discussion of personal goals or forming a trustful relationship between patient and health professional. The PAC-Card does not focus on the possibility of different options. It was developed to be used as a paper version. | Encouragement to ask questions | No preparation |
Paper version, easy to use | |||
Ask 3 Questions (Magic Program) [25] | The Ask 3 Questions campaign, part of the U.K. Magic program, is designed to encourage patients to ask questions and play a more active role in decisions about their treatment and care. This audit tool provides a simple checklist to help services assess how well they are promoting materials that encourage people to Ask 3 Questions: | Encourage the patient to ask questions about options, benefits and risks. | Focus on single diseases |
1. What are my options? | |||
2. What are the benefits and possible risks? | |||
3. How likely are these risks and benefits? | |||
Question Prompt Lists [26] | A QPL is an inexpensive communication tool consisting of a structured list of questions designed to encourage information gathering. Patients can use these questions as examples which they can choose to discuss during the consultation. By using a QPL, patients are expected to participate more actively during their consultation, for instance by asking more and broader-ranging questions. | Encourage the patient to think in advance about questions to discuss during the consultation |