AUAUniversity Podcast Series: Episode No. 12

AUA2019 037IC Help Patients Decide On Prostate Cancer Screening And Treatment

Support provided by independent educational grants from AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genomic Health, Genentech, Merck, Pfizer, Inc. and Sanofi Genzyme

Instructional Course Director(s)
Danil Makarov, MD photo
Danil Makarov, MD

New York University School of Medicine

Instructional Course Faculty(s)
Michael Barry, MD

Harvard Medical School
Angela Fagerlin, MD
Chair, Department of Population Health Sciences

Shared Decision Making was recently accepted as the standard of care when counseling patients considering PSA screening by the US Preventative Services Taskforce. Shared Decision Making is also embedded into numerous recently published AUA guidelines (including the localized prostate cancer guideline). In spite of these clear recommendations, Shared Decision Making is not frequently used in clinical practice.

We propose a course that would teach the essentials of Shared Decision Making (SDM) to practicing urologists who help patients decide about prostate cancer screening and treatment. The course will go over the latest research documenting the benefits and drawbacks of Shared Decision Making when counseling patients considering PSA screening as well as treatment approaches for incident localized prostate cancer. It will also teach the participants how to practice SDM with their patients and will engage them in group-based role play. At the end of the session, participants will understand how to apply SDM in their practice.

Learning Objectives:

  • Explain Shared Decision Making.
  • Discuss the impact of shared decision making on patients and on patient-clinician communication.
  • Describe at least one implementation strategy for using shared decision making in clinical practice.
  • Explain Shared Decision Making techniques in a role playing exercise with other attendees.
  • Apply the knowledge they have gained through role play into their routine practice counseling patients.