Reviews of Science for Science Librarians: Patient Decision Aids.

Patient Decision Aids (PDAs) are an important part of a movement towards truly informed consent and shared decision making (SDM) in medicine. The best PDAs are produced using readily understood terms and depictions but are nonetheless backed by the best available scientific evidence and most current clinical consensus. Ideally, but not always, PDAs are distributed by knowledgeable professionals working in doctor's offices, outpatient clinics, or hospitals, and carefully matched to the particular medical issues the patient is most likely facing. After having viewed or read an appropriate PDA, patients can more meaningfully discuss with their medical practitioners, what their options are for diagnostic tests, medications, treatments, or surgeries, and make their own preferences clearly understood with the full expectation that their wishes will be followed. The formats, sources, and standards by which PDAs are evaluated by experts are reviewed here so that librarians can assist patrons who often find them on their own via searching the web identify those with which are likely to be unbiased, most reliable and up to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]