Making individual choices about postmenopausal hormonal therapy: Integrating decision support into primary care

The Foundation's Generalist Physician Faculty Scholars Program was designed to strengthen the presence of generalist physician faculty in the nation's medical schools through career development awards to outstanding junior faculty in medical school departments/divisions of family medicine, general internal medicine and general pediatrics.Under this program, Nananda F. Col, M.D., will conduct a study that will empower women to make individual choices about postmenopausal hormone therapy (HRT). She will introduce a decision support tool into primary care to help women make informed choices about HRT with their physicians and to determine the impact of this tool on patient satisfaction, HRT use, health status, and risk factor modification. The specific aims are: (1) to investigate the most effective ways to introduce the decision support tool into clinical practice to help women increase their knowledge of the risks and benefits of HRT; (2) to help clinicians counsel women on the risks and benefits of HRT; (3) to help women participate in the decision making process; (4) to investigate whether providing women and their physicians with personalized estimates of their risks of coronary heart disease, breast cancer, and hip fracture, and their survival with and without HRT, with and without coaching, will improve women's and physicians' satisfaction with the decision-making process; (5) to affect HRT utilization and compliance rates; and (6) to affect health status and risk factor modification, including smoking cessation and weight loss.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $240,000.00

Awarded on: 4/6/1998

Time frame: 7/1/1998 - 12/31/2000

Grant Number: 33958