Correspondence/Response: Patient Information and Decision Aids in Oncology: Need for Communication Between Patients and Physicians — JCO

1):    
Correspondence (Vodermark):
"In their recent contribution to Journal of Clinical Oncology, Brace et al¹ report on the knowledge and opinions of physicians caring for patients with cancer in the province of Ontario, Canada, about patient decision aids......Brace et al¹ must be congratulated for collecting this comprehensive data set on the oncologists' perspective on this important topic. However, it is possible that the rates of decision aid use by patients may actually be higher than suggested by the percentages for physicians responding to the questionnaire. Access to disease-specific patient decision aids is provided freely on the Internet, and patients may make use of these tools without discussing them with their treating oncologists..."cont'd

2):


Response to Vodermark (Erin D. Kennedy): 
We appreciate the comments by Vordermark¹ about our recent contribution to Journal of Clinical Oncology.²
"...We agree that the Internet certainly has the potential to be an excellent and accessible information resource for both patients and physicians. The results presented by Vordermark et al³ and Adler et al⁴ are both interesting and timely, given that these data suggest that patients seeking information on the Internet are not comfortable discussing the information with their physicians. This is similar to our own group's experience in which patients seem to be increasingly more confident in the information they find on the Internet rather than in their own physicians. This is somewhat concerning, and we must begin to question whether we as physicians are slowly losing the ability to connect with our patients.......To accomplish this, researchers need to involve (not avoid) physicians in both the development and implementation of pDAs and decision support tools. "