Alexander Fiks, M.D., MSCE is an urban primary care pediatrician who studies health information technology (HIT) to improve child health outcomes. Dr. Fiks'research has found that although clinician-focused HIT interventions are effective, their impact could be increased by facilitating information exchange between clinicians and families in order to clarify treatment preferences and goals, a process called shared decision making (SDM). Although Dr. Fiks'long-term career goal is to become an independent investigator expert in the large-scale implementation of SDM using HIT for multiple pediatric conditions, this career development award will focus on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is an ideal prototype condition for SDM: families choose between multiple evidence-based treatments;personal/cultural values influence their selection;treatment disparities exist;and little work has so far been done to untangle these effects to support decision making. During this award, Dr. Fiks will: (1) assess the prevalence, determinants, and impact of SDM in primary care for a nationally representative sample of children with ADHD, (2) develop an instrument to measure families'preferences and goals for ADHD treatment, and (3) assess the feasibility and acceptability, and explore the outcomes of an ADHD, HIT-based SDM pilot intervention in primary care. The hypothesis of this application is that use of an instrument to capture families'ADHD treatment preferences and goals within an HIT-based system will facilitate SDM and improve adherence to and outcomes from treatment. This research, utilizing a pediatric practice-based research network, will complement formal coursework, workshop/conference participation, and skilled mentorship to train Dr. Fiks to achieve his career goals. Dr. Fiks'specific educational aims are to (1) develop expert skills to evaluate the effectiveness of HIT-enabled SDM including the study of longitudinal/clustered data and the conduct of clinical trials, (2) develop advanced skills in health measurement and instrument development, and (3) advance his knowledge of approaches to encourage SDM including the use of decision aids and HIT. This 5 year award will provide Dr. Fiks with the training and pilot data needed to launch an R01-level trial of SDM for ADHD.
Prioritized by the Institute of Medicine, shared decision making (SDM) promises to match families to acceptable treatments and improve child health outcomes. By capturing, transferring, and processing health information, computer systems can support SDM on a large-scale. This grant explores the role of these systems to facilitate SDM for ADHD, a condition impairing more than 4 million children in this country.
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