Improving Surgical Communication for Patients in Wisconsin
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Training on communication framework, Focus Group, Surveys.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Surgeons, Surgical Procedure, Unspecified. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Better Conversations for Better Informed Consent: A Pilot Study to Automate Surgeon Training and Evaluate Patient-Reported Outcomes
Overview
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new training program to support communication between surgeons and their patients. The goal of the training program is to help patients get the information they need to make treatment decisions that are right for them. Participants will complete surveys, attend a focus group, or receive training on Better Conversations, depending on the type of participant.
Detailed description
Observational research shows that surgeons translate informed consent and shared decision-making standards into an overly complicated technical explanation of the patient's disease and treatment, and an overly simplified narrative that surgery will "fix" the patient's problem. They omit critical information about the goals and downsides of surgery and struggle to actualize the patient's role in medical decisions, while unintentionally concealing professional expertise. "Better Conversations" is a novel communication framework designed to address these problems. With this framework, surgeons provide context about clinical norms, clearly establish the goals of surgery, and comprehensively delineate the downsides of surgery as experienced by the patient to generate a deliberative space for patients to consider whether surgery is right for them. This paradigm-shifting framework meets the legal and ethical standards for informed consent, supports deliberation, and allows patients to anticipate and prepare for the experience of surgery.
The present study supports optimization of surgeon training and study procedures (Phase II) that is needed before large scale testing and dissemination (Phase III). Although this intervention is evidence based, collaborative efforts are needed to ultimately test and disseminate a major clinical shift. The long-term goal is for every surgeon to use Better Conversations with every patient, every time. The present study has two main objectives: 1) To make the education program scalable with automated assessment and feedback to surgeons using audio recordings from their clinical conversations, and 2) to evaluate patient and family reported outcome measures regarding surgeon communication.
Interventions
- Behavioral Training on communication framework
Surgeons will receive training on the Better Conversations framework - Other Focus Group
Participants will attend a focus group to discuss the survey instruments used in this study which will help with future study design - Other Surveys
Participants will complete surveys regarding the surgeon's communication skills
Primary outcome measures
- Effect of automated training program [Time frame: Up to 4 years]
- Compare effectiveness of specialist-delivered training versus automated training on participant-reported measures of surgeon communication [Time frame: Up to 4 years]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
Surgeons:
- Surgeons from University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Surgery who have an outpatient surgical clinic and treat adult patients at UW Health
Surgical candidates:
- Age 18 or older
- Present to an enrolled surgeon's clinic with a surgical problem
- Decision making ability
- Speak English
Stakeholders:
- Must have previous experience with surgery (within 10 years)
- Speak English
Exclusion criteria
Surgeons:
- Solely treat minors (under age 18)
Surgical candidates:
- Lacking decision making capacity
- Unable to speak English
Stakeholders:
- Unable to speak English
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Non-randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- University of Wisconsin — Madison
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06647303 · 2024-1354 · A539750 · Protocol Version 4/17/2025