Prototype Decision-Making Tool to Facilitate Patient Selection of a Refractive Eye Surgery Modality

To address the need for a patient decision aid for refractive eye surgery, EyeChoose, a web-based tool, was developed. The tool provides patient education, assists in selection of a specific surgical modality, generates customized recommendations, and links patients to local surgeons, explicitly targeting the population of college students. I conducted a focus group interview for the needs assessment. I designed a scoring algorithm to provide a customized recommendation of surgical modalities based on a patient’s medical history and personal preferences. I completed a prototype implementation of the tool. Initial data from a validation study indicated that the system achieved 99.18% accuracy in its recommendation of a surgical modality. An evaluation of usefulness and usability, conducted via survey and focus group, also illustrated highly positive responses. Fourteen of sixteen statements in the survey received more than 80% of positive responses. I further examined the two statements that received less than 80% of positive responses to determine whether the responses varied by race, ethnicity, sex, and medical history. The focus group liked the application and found it useful for their needs. Their responses clarified features of the application that users liked/found beneficial and features that users did not like/did not find beneficial. These recommendations will be integrated into the tool as the next step. Future research is required to implement the tool in naturalistic settings and to examine the generalizability of the findings to other populations.