Mary C. Politi, PhD
@mcpoliti.bsky.social
Professor & Health Psychologist at WashU researching health decision making, patient and public engagement in research, health literacy. #publichealth #shareddecisionmaking Mom of 2 girls and an adopted beagle. Posts my own
Presenting numbers using evidence-based strategies may support patient understanding and engagement in care. Nice work @bzikmund.bsky.social @angiefagerlin.bsky.social @athorpe8.bsky.social jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
How to Communicate Medical Numbers
This JAMA Insights provides evidence-based recommendations for communicating numerical information to patients.
jamanetwork.com
September 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Presenting numbers using evidence-based strategies may support patient understanding and engagement in care. Nice work @bzikmund.bsky.social @angiefagerlin.bsky.social @athorpe8.bsky.social jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
LLMs can produce comparison tables to support #shareddecisionmaking, but need to be reviewed and checked by experts. Some of the details they produce are less accurate and less readable than those created by people. nice work @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Automated production of comparison tables for shared decision making: Comparing a human-generated table (Option Grid), a search engine process, and outputs from four large language models
To explore the ability of artificial intelligence to produce comparison tables to facilitate shared decision-making.An expert human-generated comparis…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:41 AM
LLMs can produce comparison tables to support #shareddecisionmaking, but need to be reviewed and checked by experts. Some of the details they produce are less accurate and less readable than those created by people. nice work @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
nice work by Bryan Sisk et al talking about the experience and design of patient portals for adolescents, and suggestions for communication with families now that clinical documentation is viewable to patients and caregivers. pediatrics.jmir.org/2025/1/e72134/
Advice for Improving the Experience of Web-Based Patient Portals: Qualitative Interviews With Caregiver-Adolescent Dyads
Background: Web-based patient portals can benefit adolescents and their caregivers by increasing access and providing greater understanding of one’s health information, enhancing communication with cl...
pediatrics.jmir.org
September 16, 2025 at 10:03 AM
nice work by Bryan Sisk et al talking about the experience and design of patient portals for adolescents, and suggestions for communication with families now that clinical documentation is viewable to patients and caregivers. pediatrics.jmir.org/2025/1/e72134/
"As the newest school at WashU, the School of Public Health is built to thrive within a powerful ecosystem of interdisciplinary research and practice, forging connections across the university to amplify its impact. " Read more here: source.washu.edu/2025/09/buil...
Building momentum: School of Public Health marks milestones
The School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis is rapidly expanding with new people, spaces and initiatives. In August, faculty and staff gathered to begin shaping the school’s stra...
source.washu.edu
September 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
"As the newest school at WashU, the School of Public Health is built to thrive within a powerful ecosystem of interdisciplinary research and practice, forging connections across the university to amplify its impact. " Read more here: source.washu.edu/2025/09/buil...
great paper by @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al about the limits of shared decision making. "the need for SDM is increasing... Nevertheless, as we outline, there are situations that limit when decisions can, or should, be shared." ebm.bmj.com/content/28/4...
The limits of shared decision making
The foundation of shared decision making (SDM) is the view that people should be aware of relevant choices, and that their personal views, priorities and preferences are relevant factors when determin...
ebm.bmj.com
September 5, 2025 at 11:16 AM
great paper by @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al about the limits of shared decision making. "the need for SDM is increasing... Nevertheless, as we outline, there are situations that limit when decisions can, or should, be shared." ebm.bmj.com/content/28/4...
"The possible lack of progress among lower-educated and uninsured individuals may foreshadow widening disparities." One strategy to improve screening includes mailed FIT test interventions...I wonder why we do not do this as often and use colonoscopy first. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Trends in Colorectal Cancer Screening in US Adults Aged 45 to 49 Years
This study evaluates changes in colorectal cancer screening uptake among adults aged 45 to 49 years.
jamanetwork.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:58 AM
"The possible lack of progress among lower-educated and uninsured individuals may foreshadow widening disparities." One strategy to improve screening includes mailed FIT test interventions...I wonder why we do not do this as often and use colonoscopy first. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Mary C. Politi, PhD
I'm delighted to announce our forthcoming Oxford Textbook of Shared Decision Making in Healthcare (4th Edition).
Glyn Elwyn
Adrian Edwards
Publication date - late August 2025. Pre-order available now. Further updates to follow.
📖 global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#shareddecisionmaking
Glyn Elwyn
Adrian Edwards
Publication date - late August 2025. Pre-order available now. Further updates to follow.
📖 global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#shareddecisionmaking
August 2, 2025 at 7:09 AM
I'm delighted to announce our forthcoming Oxford Textbook of Shared Decision Making in Healthcare (4th Edition).
Glyn Elwyn
Adrian Edwards
Publication date - late August 2025. Pre-order available now. Further updates to follow.
📖 global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#shareddecisionmaking
Glyn Elwyn
Adrian Edwards
Publication date - late August 2025. Pre-order available now. Further updates to follow.
📖 global.oup.com/academic/pro...
#shareddecisionmaking
"When patients feel unheard, arming themselves with knowledge becomes a strategy to be taken seriously... If patients are arming themselves with information to be heard, our task as clinicians is to meet them with recognition, not resistance." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Patients With Answers
In this narrative medicine essay, a family medicine physician works through the challenge of responding to the medical advice patients bring from ChatGPT to understanding patients’ need to be heard.
jamanetwork.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:22 AM
"When patients feel unheard, arming themselves with knowledge becomes a strategy to be taken seriously... If patients are arming themselves with information to be heard, our task as clinicians is to meet them with recognition, not resistance." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Shared Decision Making is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered care, yet this study identified that over a third of surgical patients reported inadequate SDM, especially in rural settings. FYI @glynelwyn.bsky.social pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40528763/
Over One-Third of Surgical Patients Report Inadequate Shared Decision-Making: Opportunities for Improvement From the ACS NSQIP PROMs Project - PubMed
SDM is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered care, yet this study identified that over a third of surgical patients reported inadequate SDM. Attention paid to improving SDM is criti...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
August 13, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Shared Decision Making is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered care, yet this study identified that over a third of surgical patients reported inadequate SDM, especially in rural settings. FYI @glynelwyn.bsky.social pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40528763/
The authors found a mean monthly increase of $592 in out-of-pocket costs after a cancer diagnosis, and an annual cost increase of $4145. This increase underscores the financial burden of cancer care on patients with insurance who are not yet eligible for Medicare. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Estimated Out-of-Pocket Cost for Privately Insured Patients With Common Cancers
This cohort study investigates the out-of-pocket costs associated with breast, colorectal, and lung cancer among patients younger than 65 years with private insurance.
jamanetwork.com
August 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM
The authors found a mean monthly increase of $592 in out-of-pocket costs after a cancer diagnosis, and an annual cost increase of $4145. This increase underscores the financial burden of cancer care on patients with insurance who are not yet eligible for Medicare. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
"These strategies support practical decision-making across the planning, delivery, and sustainment phases of implementation, and offer context-sensitive guidance for adapting interventions to diverse settings." #impsci implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
Translational framework for implementation evaluation and research: implementation strategies derived from normalization process theory - Implementation Science
Background Implementation strategies are deliberate systematic actions used to support the uptake of innovations in health and social care. While widely used taxonomies such as ERIC and EPOC have emer...
implementationscience.biomedcentral.com
July 29, 2025 at 10:35 AM
"These strategies support practical decision-making across the planning, delivery, and sustainment phases of implementation, and offer context-sensitive guidance for adapting interventions to diverse settings." #impsci implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
excellent paper & case study about designing for dissemination through community engagement. "Sharing power and decision-making enhanced the capacity for local-level dissemination, which is much needed to advance the science of community partnerships." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40665973/
Designing for dissemination through community advisory board engagement in an implementation mapping process: A case study - PubMed
Sharing power and decision-making enhanced the capacity for local-level dissemination, which is much needed to advance the science of community partnerships.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
July 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM
excellent paper & case study about designing for dissemination through community engagement. "Sharing power and decision-making enhanced the capacity for local-level dissemination, which is much needed to advance the science of community partnerships." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40665973/
new SBM toolkit with resources to address misinformation, including the difference between misinformation (shared unintentionally) and disinformation (deliberately spread to deceive). www.sbm.org/scicomm/comb...
Combating Misinformation | SBM | Toolkit
www.sbm.org
July 16, 2025 at 10:18 AM
new SBM toolkit with resources to address misinformation, including the difference between misinformation (shared unintentionally) and disinformation (deliberately spread to deceive). www.sbm.org/scicomm/comb...
Falls are a major cause of injuries among older people, with medication being a key risk factor. The SNOWDROP intervention increased shared decision-making, patients’ satisfaction w/communication, and reduced decisional conflict with no change in beliefs about meds. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A randomized controlled trial to evaluate innovative decision support in the context of fall prevention - npj Digital Medicine
npj Digital Medicine - A randomized controlled trial to evaluate innovative decision support in the context of fall prevention
www.nature.com
July 12, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Falls are a major cause of injuries among older people, with medication being a key risk factor. The SNOWDROP intervention increased shared decision-making, patients’ satisfaction w/communication, and reduced decisional conflict with no change in beliefs about meds. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making - npj Digital Medicine
npj Digital Medicine - Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making
www.nature.com
July 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
thoughtful work as always by @bzikmund.bsky.social and Dr. Ancker about how we choose which risk communication method/format to use (Tl;dr: it depends on our goals of risk communication): ebm.bmj.com/content/earl...
Accurate is not enough: select formats for communicating probabilities to achieve specific outcomes
In 20 years of researching and teaching health risk communication methods, the most common question we get is: how should I communicate this [adverse event risk, survival probability, etc.] so that pa...
ebm.bmj.com
July 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
thoughtful work as always by @bzikmund.bsky.social and Dr. Ancker about how we choose which risk communication method/format to use (Tl;dr: it depends on our goals of risk communication): ebm.bmj.com/content/earl...
"The findings of this cross-sectional study highlight substantial variation in commercial pricing for general surgery services, with facility prices exhibiting greater variability, especially for endoscopic procedures." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Commercial Price Variation for Common Services in General Surgery
This cross-sectional study uses Hospital Price Transparency and Transparency in Coverage data to examine variation in commercial insurance payment rates for common surgical services.
jamanetwork.com
June 26, 2025 at 10:29 AM
"The findings of this cross-sectional study highlight substantial variation in commercial pricing for general surgery services, with facility prices exhibiting greater variability, especially for endoscopic procedures." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Nothing Is as Great a Learning Experience as Getting a $15,000 Bill”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experience With Insurance Coverage. FYI @ashhoustenotd.bsky.social ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
“Nothing Is as Great a Learning Experience as Getting a $15,000 Bill”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experience With Insurance Coverage | JCO Oncology Practice
PURPOSETo explore long-term young adult (YA) cancer survivors' experience with health insurance
in a post–Affordable Care Act (ACA) era.METHODSThis was a mixed-methods analysis of insurance-related da...
ascopubs.org
June 19, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Nothing Is as Great a Learning Experience as Getting a $15,000 Bill”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experience With Insurance Coverage. FYI @ashhoustenotd.bsky.social ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Mary C. Politi, PhD
Omg @wrightcensored.bsky.social did it she’s wearing her old poster at #SMDM25
June 15, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Omg @wrightcensored.bsky.social did it she’s wearing her old poster at #SMDM25
great work Ashley Housten et al quantifying prostate cancer treatment costs. This work came out of clinicians asking about relative costs of treatment to inform shared decision making. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Costs of non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment among privately insured men in the United States
Background Our objective was to quantify the cumulative total and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for 3 non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment modalities: radiation, surgery, and conservative management a...
journals.plos.org
May 31, 2025 at 9:49 AM
great work Ashley Housten et al quantifying prostate cancer treatment costs. This work came out of clinicians asking about relative costs of treatment to inform shared decision making. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
great work by Renee Parks & Ross Brownson of the Prevention Research Center at WashU. "In a time of growing misinformation and political pressure, WashU researchers are cutting through the noise with scientific data and trusted guidance..." source.washu.edu/2025/05/wash...
WashU experts defend fluoride with facts
Amid growing misinformation, Washington University in St. Louis health experts provided Rolla leaders with clear data to support smart health policy. City leaders voted to preserve fluoride in the wat...
source.washu.edu
May 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
great work by Renee Parks & Ross Brownson of the Prevention Research Center at WashU. "In a time of growing misinformation and political pressure, WashU researchers are cutting through the noise with scientific data and trusted guidance..." source.washu.edu/2025/05/wash...
great work by @ellenpeters.bsky.social et al. Best practices include communicating with numbers; decreasing cognitive effort; providing meaning of numeric risk data; acknowledging uncertainty; testing communication through teach-back. #medsky pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40301218/
Communicating Numeric Risk Information to Patients - PubMed
Risk information is increasingly available to health care providers and patients thanks to a growing body of health outcomes research and clinical prediction models. Meanwhile, communicating such info...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
May 29, 2025 at 9:35 AM
great work by @ellenpeters.bsky.social et al. Best practices include communicating with numbers; decreasing cognitive effort; providing meaning of numeric risk data; acknowledging uncertainty; testing communication through teach-back. #medsky pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40301218/
Interesting findings that patients might trust clinicians less if they recommend less intensive testing or follow up compared to AI. @bzikmund.bsky.social et al www.jmir.org/2025/1/e68823/
Patient Reactions to Artificial Intelligence–Clinician Discrepancies: Web-Based Randomized Experiment
Background: As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved use of artificial intelligence (AI) for medical imaging rises, radiologists are increasingly integrating AI into their clinical practi...
www.jmir.org
May 26, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Interesting findings that patients might trust clinicians less if they recommend less intensive testing or follow up compared to AI. @bzikmund.bsky.social et al www.jmir.org/2025/1/e68823/
Many are asking how they can help. I am still stunned by the power of this storm and know that recovery will be a long process. TY to the WashU community for letting us know how we can come together to support the community of those in need. stlouis.washu.edu/st-louis-sto...
St. Louis Storm Recovery Efforts | In St. Louis, For St. Louis | WashU
On Friday, May 16, a severe storm impacted lives across St. Louis. More than 5,000 homes in the region were affected, along with parts of our campus. We are holding everyone impacted in our hearts and...
stlouis.washu.edu
May 18, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Many are asking how they can help. I am still stunned by the power of this storm and know that recovery will be a long process. TY to the WashU community for letting us know how we can come together to support the community of those in need. stlouis.washu.edu/st-louis-sto...