Goal Elicitation Research Articles

An age-friendly approach to primary care in an academic health system.

Age-friendly care, addressing what matters most, medications, mentation, and mobility, is a successful model for improving older adult care. We describe the initial outcomes of age-friendly care implementation in five primary care clinics in an academic health system. In partnership with a regional quality improvement (QI) organization, we used practice facilitation to implement age-friendly care from July 2020 to June 2023. Clinic workflows and electronic health record (EHR) templates were modified to capture six QI measures for patients ≥65 years: Documenting what matters most to patients Advance care planning (ACP) Annual cognitive screening Caregiver referral to dementia community resources Fall-risk screening Co-prescription of opioid and sedative-hypnotic drugs Providers were alerted if patients had positive screens and given support tools for clinical decision-making. QI measures from January-June 2023 were compared to the year prior to implementation. Providers and staff were interviewed about implementation barriers and facilitators. All six measures improved in Geriatrics and and other clinics showed improvement in ACP and cognitive screening. All clinics had high fall-risk screening rates (≥85%). The least improved measure was co-prescription of opioids and sedative-hypnotics with co-prescription rates ranging from 7% to 39%. Implementation hinged on leadership prioritization, practice facilitator guidance, clinical team buy-in, EHR functionality, and clinical performance review. Three clinics received Age-Friendly Health System recognition. A QI approach using practice facilitation and EHR templates improved some but not all age-friendly care measures. Future interventions will focus on training in high-risk medication tapering and elicitation of health goals.

Prioritized health outcomes of acutely hospitalized older patients.

Background: The population is ageing, leading to an increase in older patients visiting the Emergency Department (ED) and acute hospitalizations. Ageing is often accompanied by the presence of multiple chronic diseases, known as multimorbidity. This presence of multimorbidity challenges the application of treatment guidelines, that are generally focused on treating a single disease. Consequently, choosing the most fitting treatment option for the patient with multimorbidity often entails making a trade-off. A trade-off is a situational decision in which prioritization leads to a decrease of benefits for an outcome in return for gains in another. Insight in the health priorities of patients can aid in making this trade-off. Little is known about older patients’ health priorities while being hospitalized, especially for acute hospitalizations. Therefore, we aimed to explore the health priorities of acutely hospitalized older patients.
 Method: In this study we performed a post-hoc analysis of prospectively collected data by the Acutelines Bio- and Databank. Older hospitalized patients (aged ≥ 70 years) were included between September 2020 and October 2022 at the University Medical Centre Groningen, the Netherlands. Demographic, medical and survey data were collected. The primary outcome was the prioritized health outcome of the patient, assessed using the Outcome Prioritization Tool (OPT). Health outcomes of the OPT were life extension, maintain independence, reducing pain and reducing other complaints. Data were analyzed descriptively, whereafter two separate multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess which factors are associated with prioritized health outcomes. For analysis, reducing pain and reducing other complaints were taken together and life extension was used as reference category.
 Preliminary Results: Three-hundred-ninety-nine older patients (mean age 76.7 ± 5.3) were included, with a median Charlson comorbidity score of five. Patients mainly experienced problems with their mobility (75%), somatic complaints (73%) and problems with activities in daily living (69%). Their self-rated health (0-100), based on two weeks before hospitalization, was scored with a mean of 55.5 ± 21.9. The main prioritized health outcome by patients was maintaining independence (42%), whereafter reducing pain (22%), life extension (20%) and reducing other complaints (16%) were ranked. When patients prioritized maintaining independence highest, life extension was most often the lowest priority. If patients did not prioritize maintaining independence highest, it was often prioritized as the second most important health outcome. The education level of the patient and the presence of cognitive impairment were associated more with maintaining independence compared to life extension. Experiencing fear and a lower self-rated health were associated more with reducing complaints compared to life extension. 
 
 Conclusion: Our study showed that, despite being hospitalized for an acute problem, most patients prioritized maintaining independence. This is an interesting finding, as treatment guidelines focus on life extension and treating complaints. Our findings in acutely hospitalized older patients, emphasizes the importance of goal elicitation by healthcare professionals and alignment of a treatment plan to the patients’ goal. An increased awareness of this importance amongst healthcare professionals can lead to providing more optimally integrated care.

Goals of older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity

Background: The increased prevalence of older patients, often presenting with multimorbidity, challenges the traditional disease-focused approach in hospital care. To improve healthcare for older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity, patient-centered healthcare is recognized by experts as essential. An important aspect of patient-centered care is aligning healthcare to personal goals. From literature, we know that older adults rate life enjoyment, social relations, quality of life, mobility and maintenance of autonomy as most important in daily life. In the hospital setting, however, little is known about goals of older patients. Besides, patients with multimorbidity experience more burden of their disease, functional disabilities, and a reduced quality of life which can lead to prioritizing different goals. These potential differences in goals between patients with and without multimorbidity have not been established so far. Therefore, we aimed to explore goals of older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity and compare their goals to those of older hospitalized patients without multimorbidity.
 Method: Older hospitalized patients (aged ≥ 70 years) were included between February 2017 and March 2020 in a prospective mixed-methods cohort study at the University Medical Centre Groningen, the Netherlands. Multimorbidity was defined as presenting with polypharmacy and two or more diseases scored with the Charlson Comorbidity index. Goals were assessed by a standardized interview, whereafter they were categorized into one of the ten predefined categories and analyzed descriptively. Goal categories were ‘wanting to know what the matter is’, ‘controlling disease’, ‘staying alive’, ‘alleviating complaints’, ‘improving condition’ (fitness), ‘improving daily functioning’, ‘improving/maintaining social functioning’, ‘resuming work/hobbies’, ‘regain/maintain autonomy’ and ‘undefinable’
 Results: Four-hundred-ninety-three older hospitalized patients (mean age 76.7 ± 5.5, 64% male) were included, of which 223 patients with multimorbidity (45%). Patients were hospitalized for 7.9 ± 8.5 days on average. Patients with multimorbidity experienced more mobility problems (67% vs 52%), physical impairments (66% vs 50%) and rated their health lower (a score of 60.2 vs 67.5 on the EuroQol - Visual Analogue Scale) compared to patients without multimorbidity. The most often mentioned goals were ‘controlling disease’ (27%) and ‘alleviating complaints’ (22%). No differences were found in goals mentioned by patients with and without multimorbidity. Forty-one percent of both patients with and without multimorbidity mentioned goals that were disease-unrelated.
 Conclusion: Our study shows no major differences in goals of older hospitalized patients with and without multimorbidity. However, the large proportion of patients mentioning disease-unrelated goals emphasizes the importance of goal elicitation by healthcare professionals within hospital care to provide optimally integrated care.

Facilitators and barriers to eliciting physical function goals before and after surgery: A qualitative study with clinicians

ObjectiveDescribe clinicians’ perspectives of facilitators and barriers to eliciting physical function goals from patients with multiple chronic conditions pre- and post-surgery. MethodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with clinicians, recruited from an academic medical center, who treat adult patients with multiple chronic conditions. Purposive sampling ensured multiple provider types were represented. Interviews were conducted in person or via web conference and were audio recorded. Findings were summarized using descriptive qualitative content analysis. ResultsOf the 12 participating clinicians, 92% were female and 83% specialized in geriatrics. Clinicians had a mean of 10.7 (min-max: 1–30) years of experience. Key facilitators to goal-setting conversations were sufficient time, familial support, and patient cognitive ability. Barriers included lack of time, lack of training, patient challenges in choosing realistic and specific actionable goals, emotional barriers, and cognitive challenges. ConclusionSome facilitators and barriers are modifiable, including time, inclusion of family members in the clinical encounter, and clinician training to enable actionable goal setting. These results highlight areas for intervention to facilitate goal elicitation for physical function in clinical care settings. Practice implicationsClinicians should be aware of the barriers impacting eliciting goals. Healthcare organizations could consider providing effective goal elicitation training and tools to facilitate goal setting conversation.

Goals of older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity

Key Summary PointsAimTo explore goals of older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity and compare their goals to those of older hospitalized patients without multimorbidity.FindingsNo differences were found in goals mentioned by patients with and without multimorbidity. Forty-one percent of both patients with and without multimorbidity mentioned goals that were disease-unrelated.MessageThe large proportion of patients mentioning disease-unrelated goals emphasizes the importance of goal elicitation by healthcare professionals within hospital care to provide optimally integrated care.

Exploring Factors Impacting the Implementation of Recovery-Oriented Treatment Planning on Acute Inpatient Mental Health Units.

The current literature on operationalizing and implementing recovery-oriented inpatient care in diverse settings remains limited. The present study systematically examined factors affecting the implementation of one aspect of recovery-oriented care in a large and diverse national sample of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) inpatient mental health units. VHA inpatient mental health units were scored on the Recovery-Oriented Acute Inpatient scale (RAIN). Sites scoring either one standard deviation above (n = 8; i.e., high-scoring sites) or one standard deviation below (n = 5; i.e., low-scoring sites) the mean on the RAIN factor of inpatient treatment planning subscale were included for additional analyses (N = 13). We used a qualitative approach known as emergent thematic analysis to assess the implementation of inpatient treatment planning elements (e.g., goal setting, shared decision-making) from qualitative interviews, observation notes, and chart reviews collected for the 13 sites. The analysis was guided by Normalization Process Theory. The eleven themes that emerged across the elements of recovery-oriented inpatient treatment planning mostly represented commonalities across sites, such as a shared treatment philosophy of acute care. However, five themes emerged as "differentiators" that distinguished high- and low-scoring sites and included veteran input, elicitation of recovery goals, the value of group programming, and the purpose of family involvement. Findings provide insight into contextual factors and processes that impacted the implementation of recovery-oriented treatment planning at these VHA inpatient mental health units. To further facilitate the implementation of recovery-oriented inpatient treatment planning elements, future research should examine staff's collective understanding of recovery-oriented inpatient care.

Are We on the Same Page? A Cross-Sectional Study of Patient-Clinician Goal Concordance in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Patient-clinician goal concordance is associated with improved outcomes in certain chronic diseases but not explored in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We examined goal concordance, correlates of concordance, and the association of concordance with health outcomes. Adult patients with RA seen at least 1 time in the prior 12 months at 1 of 2 rheumatology clinics participated. Patients and their clinicians independently ranked top 3 goals for RA treatment from 8 options before a routine visit. Patients completed postvisit surveys on health, demographic information, health literacy, and adherence. Goal concordance was defined as the patient's number 1 goal being among the clinician's top 3 goals for that patient. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine correlates of concordance. Patients were 58% female and 16% Spanish-speaking, and 29% had limited health literacy. Among 204 patient-clinician dyads, 20% were goal-discordant. "Have less pain" was selected by both patient and clinician in 81% of dyads, followed by "have fewer problems doing daily activities" by 63%. Otherwise, clinicians prioritized avoiding side effects, whereas patients ranked improved sleep, fatigue, and mood. Longer disease duration was associated with discordance (median 13.3 years, interquartile range [IQR] 5.2-20 among discordant vs. 7 years, IQR 4-14; P=0.039); higher depressive symptoms were associated with concordance (8.1% vs. 24%; P=0.04). Goal concordance was associated with higher medication adherence (adjusted odds ratio 2.76 [95% confidence interval 1.01, 7.56]). One in 5 patient-clinician dyads had discordant treatment goals. Goal concordance was associated with higher medication adherence. Studies to improve goal elicitation and communication of patients with RA's priorities are needed.

Study protocol for an adapted personal project analysis to measure vertical inter-goal relations on physical activity and diet

BackgroundThe promotion of multiple healthy lifestyles has been implemented as part of public health efforts to prevent and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. However, these interventions have shown a heterogeneity in their effectiveness. The pursuit of multiple daily goals may influence overall progress in achieving health goals. Horizontal inter-goal relations can be conflicting (due to time constraints) or facilitating (due to goal compatibility) and impact progress towards goal achievement. Personal values also play an important role in health promotion. Personal values direct attention towards accomplishing a higher-level goal through goal setting. Identifying the conflicting or facilitating relationships between health goals and personal values would provide insights in how individuals value health and the personal values that may support the adoption of a healthy behavior. The health goals that this study will focus on are physical activity and a healthy diet.MethodsParticipants between 18 and 30 years old residing in Belgium and interested in a healthy diet and/or physical activity, will be recruited. The study will be a mixed-methods research study based on an adapted personal project analysis for goal elicitation, goal appraisal, and rating of inter-goal conflicting or facilitating relations on a cross-impact matrix. The main objectives include examining the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and personal values. Secondary objectives include: examining correlations between horizontal and vertical goal relations; and the goal self-concordance score as a method of data triangulation of facilitating relations between goals and personal values.DiscussionThis study will provide insights into how the emerging adult population relate healthy behaviors, specifically physical activity and a healthy diet, to their personal values. The degree to which individuals are able to pursue a health goal is also influenced by other life goals, and therefore the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and other life goals will also be examined. This study contributes to multiple health behavior change theories and has implications for the formulation of interventions for the promotion of healthy behaviors.

A goal by any other name: Effects of different goal elicitation methods on goal pursuit

There are many ways in which researchers ask participants about their personal goals or projects, yet findings are subsequently considered interchangeable. This study experimentally tested whether different ways of asking participants about their goals elicits different goals and impacts reports of goal progress. Undergraduate participants (N = 285) were assigned to one of three conditions (personal projects, personal goals, open-ended goals), listed an unlimited number of goals they were currently pursing, rated each goal on a series of goal characteristics, and six weeks later reported on their goal progress. Results indicated that participants reported significantly more goals in the personal project condition than in the other two conditions, and that these goals were rated as less difficult. Overall, the present study provides further insight into the effects of the elicitation methods employed in goal pursuit research.

"It may help you to know…": The Early-phase Qualitative Development of a Rheumatoid Arthritis Goal Elicitation Tool.

Treatment guidelines for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) include a patient-centered approach and shared decision making, which includes a discussion of patient goals. We describe the iterative early development of a structured goal elicitation tool to facilitate goal communication for persons with RA and their clinicians. Tool development occurred in 3 phases: (1) clinician feedback on the initial prototype during a communication training session; (2) semistructured interviews with RA patients; and (3) community stakeholder feedback on elements of the goal elicitation tool in a group setting and electronically. Feedback was dynamically incorporated into the tool. Clinicians (n = 15) and patients (n = 10) provided feedback on the tool prototypes. Clinicians preferred a shorter tool deemphasizing goals outside of their perceived treatment domain or available resources; they highlighted the benefits of the tool to facilitate conversation but raised concerns regarding current constraints of the clinic visit. Patients endorsed the utility of such a tool to support agenda setting and preparing for a visit. Clinicians, patients, and community stakeholders reported the tool was useful but identified barriers to implementation that the tool could itself resolve. A goal elicitation tool for persons with RA and their clinicians was iteratively developed with feedback from multiple stakeholders. The tool can provide a structured way to communicate patient goals within a clinic visit and help overcome reported barriers such as time constraints. Incorporating a structured communication tool to enhance goal communication and foster shared decision making may lead to improved outcomes and higher-quality care in RA.

Jail and Emergency Department Utilization in the Context of Harm Reduction Treatment for People Experiencing Homelessness and Alcohol Use Disorder.

People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by alcohol use disorder (AUD). Abstinence-based treatment, however, does not optimally engage or treat this population. Thus, Harm Reduction Treatment for Alcohol (HaRT-A) was developed together with people with the lived experience of homelessness and AUD and community-based agencies that serve them. HaRT-A is a compassionate and pragmatic approach that aims to help people reduce alcohol-related harm and improve quality of life (QoL) without requiring abstinence or use reduction. The parent RCT showed that HaRT-A precipitated statistically significant reductions in alcohol use, alcohol-related harm, AUD symptoms, and positive urine toxicology tests. This secondary study tested HaRT-A effects on more distal, 6-month pre-to-posttreatment changes on jail and emergency department (ED) utilization. People experiencing homelessness and AUD (N = 168; 24% women) were recruited in community-based clinical and social services settings. Participants were randomized to receive HaRT-A or services as usual. Over four sessions, HaRT-A interventionists delivered three components: (a) collaborative tracking of participant-preferred alcohol metrics, (b) elicitation of harm-reduction and QoL goals, and (c) discussion of safer-drinking strategies. Administrative data on jail and ED utilization were extracted for 6 months pre- and posttreatment.Findings indicated no statistically significant treatment group differences on 6-month changes in jail or ED utilization (ps > .23). Exploratory analyses showed that 2-week frequency of alcohol use was positively correlated with number of jail bookings in the 12months surrounding their study participation. Additionally, self-reported alcohol-related harm, importance of reducing alcohol-related harm, and perceived physical functioning predicted more ED visits. Future studies are needed to further assess how harm-reduction treatment may be enhanced to move the needle in criminal justice and healthcare utilization in the context of larger samples, longer follow-up timeframes, and more intensive interventions.

Psychosocial characteristics of candidates for implantable pain devices: validation of an assessment model.

Aim: To provide a detailed profile of Veteran and community patients with chronic pain who completed preprocedural psychological evaluations for implantable pain devices. Patients & methods: A total of 157 candidates completed a preimplantable pain device evaluation between June 2018 and October 2019 with a pain psychologist that included a structured interview, elicitation of patient-centered goals for the implantable device, and psychometric testing. Results: Candidates demonstrated moderate to high rates of sleep impairment (73%), depressive symptoms (62%), anxiety symptoms (61%), pain catastrophizing (37%), cognitive impairment screen (30%) and somatic symptoms (24%). Conclusion: Candidates for implantable pain devices report high rates of mood, sleep and cognitive impairment, reinforcing the value of preprocedural psychological evaluations.

A Simple Goal Elicitation Tool Improves Shared Decision Making in Outpatient Orthopedic Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction. Shared decision making involves educating the patient, eliciting their goals, and collaborating on a decision for treatment. Goal elicitation is challenging for physicians as previous research has shown that patients do not bring up their goals on their own. Failure to properly elicit patient goals leads to increased patient misconceptions and decisional conflict. We performed a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a simple goal elicitation tool in improving patient involvement in decision making. Methods. We conducted a randomized, single-blind study of new patients presenting to a single, outpatient surgical center. Prior to their consultation, the intervention group received a demographics questionnaire and a goal elicitation worksheet. The control group received a demographics questionnaire only. After the consultation, both groups were asked to complete the Perceived Involvement in Care Scale (PICS) survey. We compared the mean PICS scores for the intervention and control groups using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test. Secondary analysis included a qualitative content analysis of the patient goals. Results. Our final cohort consisted of 96 patients (46 intervention, 50 control). Both groups were similar in terms of demographic composition. The intervention group had a significantly higher mean (SD) PICS score compared to the control group (9.04 [2.15] v. 7.54 [2.27], P < 0.01). Thirty-nine percent of patient goals were focused on receiving a diagnosis or treatment, while 21% of patients wanted to receive education regarding their illness or their treatment options. Discussion. A single-step goal elicitation tool was effective in improving patient-perceived involvement in their care. This tool can be efficiently implemented in both academic and nonacademic settings.

The "unknown territory" of goal-setting: Negotiating a novel interactional activity within primary care doctor-patient consultations for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

Goal-setting is widely recommended for supporting patients with multiple long-term conditions. It involves a proactive approach to a clinical consultation, requiring doctors and patients to work together to identify patient's priorities, values and desired outcomes as a basis for setting goals for the patient to work towards. Importantly it comprises a set of activities that, for many doctors and patients, represents a distinct departure from a conventional consultation, including goal elicitation, goal-setting and action planning. This indicates that goal-setting is an uncertain interactional space subject to inequalities in understanding and expectations about what type of conversation is taking place, the roles of patient and doctor, and how patient priorities may be configured as goals. Analysing such spaces therefore has the potential for revealing how the principles of goal-setting are realised in practice. In this paper, we draw on Goffman's concept of ‘frames’ to present an examination of how doctors' and patients' sense making of goal-setting was consequential for the interactions that followed. Informed by Interactional Sociolinguistics, we used conversation analysis methods to analyse 22 video-recorded goal-setting consultations with patients with multiple long-term conditions. Data were collected between 2016 and 2018 in three UK general practices as part of a feasibility study. We analysed verbal and non-verbal actions for evidence of GP and patient framings of consultation activities and how this was consequential for setting goals. We identified three interactional patterns: GPs checking and reframing patients' understanding of the goal-setting consultation, GPs actively aligning with patients' framing of their goal, and patients passively and actively resisting GP framing of the patient goals. These reframing practices provided “telling cases” of goal-setting interactions, where doctors and patients need to negotiate each other's perspectives but also conflicting discourses of patient-centredness, population-based evidence for treating different chronic illnesses and conventional doctor-patient relations.

Chronic Disease Decision Making and “What Matters Most”

The increasing use of the question, "What matters most to you?" is a welcome development in the effort to provide patient-centered care. However, it is difficult for clinicians to translate answers to this question into treatment plans for chronic conditions, including recognizing when to consider options other than clinical practice guideline (CPG)-directed therapy. Goal elicitation is most helpful when a patient has different treatment options with clearly identifiable trade-offs. In the face of trade-offs, goal elicitation helps patients to prioritize among potentially competing outcomes. While decision aids (DAs) focus on trade-offs by delineating options and outcomes, the robust outcome data necessary to create DAs for older patients with multimorbidity are often lacking and even mild cognitive impairment makes the use of DAs difficult. The challenges for providing chronic disease care to older patients who are at risk for adverse events from CPG-directed therapy because of multimorbidity and/or frailty are to organize the complexity of individual combinations of diseases, conditions, and syndromes into common sets of trade-offs and to identify those goals or priorities that will directly inform a plan of care. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:474-477, 2020.

An ERP Implementation Method: Studying a Pharmaceutical Company

Analyzing the development process for an ERP solution, in our case SAP, is one of the most critical processes in implementing standard software packages. Modelling of the proposed system can facilitate the development of enterprise systems not from scratch but through use of predefined parts who represents the best knowledge captured from numerous case studies. This aims at abstracting the specification of the required information system as well as modelling the process towards this goal. Modelling plays a central role in the organization of the information systems development process and the information systems community has developed a large number of conceptual models, systems of concepts, for representing conceptual schemata. In the area of ERP systems, because of the characteristics that distinguishes them, conceptual modelling can help in all aspects of the development process, from goal elicitation to reuse of the captured knowledge, through the use of the appropriate modelling schemata. SAP offers a standardized software solution, thus making easier the alignment of SAP requirements to enterprise requirements in a goal form, and the correspondent business processes.

IMPLEMENTING THE 4MS IN PRIMARY CARE: BUILDING AN AGE-FRIENDLY HEALTH SYSTEM

The Age Friendly Health Systems initiative is a culture change movement funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation in collaboration with the Institute for Health Care Improvement. Transforming clinical training environments into integrated geriatrics and primary care systems to become Age-Friendly Health Systems must incorporate the principles of value-based care and alternative-payment models. This symposium will discuss how the implementation of the Geriatric Interprofessional Team Transformation in Primary Care (GITT-PC) model and the Reducing Avoidable Facility Transfer Model (RAFT) in primary care will improve patient outcomes focused on the 4M’s of the Age Friendly Health System. The success of the GITT-PC model focuses on 4 Medicare reimbursable services including the Annual Wellness Visit, Transitional Care Management, Chronic Care Management and Advance Care Planning. The RAFT model focuses on What Matters Most to residents of long term care facilities and reduces ED visits and hospital transfers through elicitation of goals of care and 24 hour virtual support from an interprofessional geriatric team.

Contextualising and aligning security metrics and business objectives: A GQM-based methodology

Pre-defined security metrics suffer from the problem of contextualisation, i.e. a lack of adaptability to particular organisational contexts – domain, technical infrastructure, stakeholders, business process, etc. Adapting metrics to an organisational context is essential (1) for the metrics to align with business requirements (2) for decision makers to maintain relevant security goals based on measurements from the field. In this paper we propose Symbiosis, a methodology that defines a goal elicitation and refinement process mapping business objectives to security measurement goals via the use of systematic templates that capture relevant context elements (business goals, purpose, stakeholders, system scope). The novel contribution of Symbiosis is the well-defined process, which enforces that (1) metrics align with business objectives via a top-down derivation that refines top-level business objectives to a manageable granularity (2) the impact of metrics on business objectives is explicitly traced via a bottom-up feedback mechanism, allowing an incremental approach where feedback from metrics influences business goals, and vice-versa. In this paper, we discuss the findings from applying Symbiosis to three case studies of known security incidents. Our analysis shows how the aforementioned pitfalls of security metrics development processes affected the outcome of these high-profile security incidents and how Symbiosis addresses such issues.

Barriers to eliciting patient goals and values in shared decision-making breast cancer surgery consultations: An ethnographic and interview study.

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of eliciting patients' goals and values during shared decision-making (SDM), but this does not occur in most SDM conversations. Understanding challenges to eliciting patients' goals and values is crucial. This study assessed how clinicians balanced sharing medical information and considering patients' goals and values during breast cancer surgery consultation in an integrated health care system. We conducted interviews with clinicians (n = 6) and patients (n = 11) and conducted naturalistic, ethnographic observations of eight surgical consultations in a multidisciplinary breast cancer clinic. We analyzed the data following the template method using the qualitative software NVivo 10. Clinicians prioritized sharing medical information. We identified four patient factors necessary to integrate patients' values and goals into the conversation in addition to sharing medical information: ability to process large quantities of information quickly, willingness to embrace swift decision-making, ability to quickly formulate one's values, and prioritization of surgical choice as the goal of the conversation. We found that SDM implementation results in practices that emphasize information and choice, with less focus on patient goals and values. More research is needed to explore factors that may encourage the elicitation of patients' goals and values.

Challenges and Priorities for Pediatric Palliative Care Research in the U.S. and Similar Practice Settings: Report From a Pediatric Palliative Care Research Network Workshop

ContextTo dramatically advance the evidence base for pediatric palliative care (PPC) interventions, practices, and programs in the U.S. and similar practice settings, the field needs to better understand the challenges and opportunities for rigorous scholarship. ObjectivesThe Pediatric Palliative Care Research Network conducted a workshop to clarify challenges and identify key priorities. MethodsThe workshop focused on PPC research topics and methods, including outcomes measurement, qualitative inquiry, analyses of big data, prospective collection of research data, case series and cohort studies, and intervention trials, with synthesizing summary and follow-up discussions. All attendees reviewed and approved the final report. ResultsFive common challenges were identified: patient diversity and small population size; interdependencies and dynamic interactions between child, family members, and disease processes over time; outcomes and measurement; workforce and infrastructure limitations; and presumed burden of PPC research on participants. Seven priorities emerged: bolster training and development of PPC investigators; develop core resources; advance symptom measurement (and measurements of other exposures and outcomes); improve symptom management and quality of life interventions; improve communication, elicitation of goals of care, and decision making; understand family impact and facilitate or improve family adaptation and coping; and analyze and improve systems of care, policy, and education. ConclusionThese challenges and priorities identify key research areas that can guide individual investigators and research funders to advance the field.