Digital decision aid for prenatal counseling in imminent extreme premature labor: development and pilot testing

Title

Digital decision aid for prenatal counseling in imminent extreme premature labor: development and pilot testing

Creator

van den Heuvel JFM; Hogeveen M; Lutke Holzik M; van Heijst AFJ; Bekker MN; Geurtzen R

Publisher

BMC medical informatics and decision making

Date

2022

Subject

Digital health; IPDAS; Neonatology; Obstetrics; Patient decision aid; Prematurity; Shared decision making

Description

BACKGROUND: In case of extreme premature delivery at 24 weeks of gestation, both early intensive care and palliative comfort care for the neonate are considered treatment options. Prenatal counseling, preferably using shared decision making, is needed to agree on the treatment option in case labor progresses. This article described the development of a digital decision aid (DA) to support pregnant women, partners and clinicians in prenatal counseling for imminent extreme premature labor. METHOD(S): This DA is developed following the International Patient Decision Aid Standards. The Dutch treatment guideline and the Dutch recommendations for prenatal counseling in extreme prematurity were used as basis. Development of the first prototype was done by expert clinicians and patients, further improvements were done after alpha testing with involved clinicians, patients and other experts (n=12), and beta testing with non-involved clinicians and patients (n=15). RESULT(S): The final version includes information, probabilities and figures depending on users' preferences. Furthermore, it elicits patient values and provides guidance to aid parents and professionals in making a decision for either early intensive care or palliative comfort care in threatening extreme premature delivery. CONCLUSION(S): A decision aid was developed to support prenatal counseling regarding the decision on early intensive care versus palliative comfort care in case of extreme premature delivery at 24 weeks gestation. It was well accepted by parents and healthcare professionals. Our multimedia, digital DA is openly available online to support prenatal counseling and personalized, shared decision-making in imminent extreme premature labor. Copyright © 2022. The Author(s).

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Citation List Month

March 2022 List

Collection

Citation

van den Heuvel JFM; Hogeveen M; Lutke Holzik M; van Heijst AFJ; Bekker MN; Geurtzen R, “Digital decision aid for prenatal counseling in imminent extreme premature labor: development and pilot testing,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed December 3, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/17843.