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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A focus group study investigating medical decision making in octogenarians of high socioeconomic status with successful outcomes following cardiac surgery | | Author(s) | John C Oldroyd, Michele R Levinson, Gemma Stephenson |
| Journal title | Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 33, no 3, September 2014 |
| Publisher | Wiley, September 2014 |
| Pages | pp 174-179 |
| Source | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ajag |
| Keywords | Octogenarians ; Heart disease ; Patients ; Surgery ; Attitude. |
| Annotation | The present study aimed to explore medical decision making among octogenarians having cardiac surgery. Five focus groups were conducted in a private hospital setting with octogenarians of high socioeconomic status who had successful cardiac surgery in the previous 3-13 months. The octogenarians' motivations for having cardiac surgery included survival, relief of symptoms, convenience and improving quality of life. The decision to have surgery involved clinical advice by doctors that the time had come to take up a surgical option. The patients' decisions did not take into account alternative treatment options either because these had not been presented by doctors or because medical management had failed. The final decision was made by patients. Decisions to have cardiac surgery are made by octogenarian patients after discussions with family based on their risks as communicated by their doctors. This underlines the importance of effective risk communication by doctors to help patients make appropriate medical decisions. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150626269 A |
| Classmark | BBM: CQH: LF: LKA: DP |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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