Project 1

Which long-term outcomes are important to high-risk patients and their doctors when contemplating major surgery?

In Project 1 we will perform four separate studies. Firstly, in project 1.1 we will video-record shared decision making encounters between clinicians and patients (also carers where appropriate/requested) and conduct follow up interviews.

In project 1.2 we will conduct patient and doctor focus groups in order to identify and weigh the importance of different post-operative health and well-being outcomes to patients.

We will then explore how this information affects decision making in project 1.3, a discrete choice experiment involving patients with high-risk criteria who are not scheduled for surgery, and doctors caring for high-risk surgical patients.

Finally in project 1.4, a qualitative dynamic decision making analysis including high-risk patients and doctors, we will explore how decisions are made about major surgery and how the delivery of information can influence this.