Background: Despite extensive ongoing clinical trials investigating appropriateness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-screening, the benefit of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer remains controversial due to the lack of clear evidence for effectiveness of population-based PSA-screening. Notwithstanding, the need to identify the determinants behind PSA-testing decisions, the number of studies that have examined factors affecting the physicians' decision as to whether PSA-testing should be ordered are few. The aim of the current study was to investigate how physician- and patient-related factors influence Swedish primary care physicians' decision to order a PSA test for men harboring no symptoms of prostate cancer within different age groups.
Methods: A total of 305 physicians filled out the study questionnaire containing items about physicians' attitudes towards PSA-testing and the probability of screening men within different age groups.
Results: The majority of physicians reported positive attitude towards PSA-testing. However, the likelihood of offering PSA-testing to young men was low, but increased with age. Physicians' opinion about PSA-test as a sufficient screening tool was the only variable affecting physicians' decision of ordering PSA-test regardless of patient age. The level of the patients' worry, and patients request were the most influential factors in age groups between 40 and 70 years old. Patients' physical symptoms were an indicator in age groups above 60 years.
Conclusion: The decision to screen for prostate cancer using the PSA-test is influenced by several factors and not only those having direct clinical indication for prostate disease. This may lead to unnecessary treatment of some patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/0284186X.2012.762998 | DOI Listing |
JAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey.
Importance: Clinical trials are vital for advancing cancer treatments and improving patient outcomes. Understanding the factors that influence participants' decision-making is critical for enhancing trial recruitment.
Objective: To evaluate the attitudes of patients with cancer and their relatives toward clinical trial participation, identifying key barriers and motivators that affect their willingness to engage in such trials.
Pharmaceut Med
January 2025
Pharmaceutical Medicine, Dover Heights, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Pharmaceutical medicine professionals have to face many ethical problems during the entire life span of new medicines extending from animal studies to broad clinical practice. The primary aim of the general ethical principles governing research conducted in humans is to diminish the physical and psychological burdens of the participants in human drug studies but overlooks many additional social and ethical problems faced by medicine developers. These arise mainly at the interface connecting the profit-oriented pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare-centered medical profession cooperating in medicines development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRheumatology (Oxford)
January 2025
Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Objective: This study investigates the barriers and facilitators to sustaining a decision aid (DA) tool for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in routine rheumatology outpatient care across the U.S. The DA was initially developed for assisting Patients with SLE in making informed medication choices by providing personalized information on their treatment process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Med Educ
January 2025
Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA.
Objectives: We aimed to determine if shared decision-making (SDM) self-assessment of a standardized patient (SP) scenario was reliable, specifically whether students' communication resulted in each SP-student pair reporting internally consistent final treatment choices. We hypothesized student self-assessment would differ from SP and faculty assessment indicating a need for multisource feedback.
Methods: In this observational case study from 2016-2017, all third-year post-clerkship medical students received evidence-based treatment options for sinusitis and SDM lectures followed by a SP encounter on sinusitis.
J Med Educ Curric Dev
January 2025
Department of Health Policy and Management, Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, and School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Background: While bedside teaching offers invaluable clinical experience, its availability is limited. Challenges such as a shortage of clinical placements and qualified teaching physicians, coupled with increasing medical student numbers, exacerbate this issue. Simulation-based learning encompasses varied educational values and has the potential to serve as an important tool in medical students' education.
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