Does a decision aid improve decision making in prosthetic heart valve selection?

For patients who are accepted for aortic or mitral valve replacement two
options exist: mechanical and bioprosthetic valve substitutes. The decision
which valve type to choose is a delicate process, since in most patients
survival is comparable with either valve substitute but the nature of
prosthetic valve-related morbidity differs significantly, is hard to compare
and may be value-sensitive. Therefore, patient preferences should play a major
role in the decision-making.
Consideration of informed patient preferences, the use of decision aids and the
process of *shared decision making*3 get more and more attention in healthcare,
and may improve the decision making process and hopefully lead to a better
quality of life.
It is hypothesized that clinical decision making in prosthetic valve selection
can be improved by the use of decision aids and the process of shared decision
making.
Our research questions are:
1. Does the use of a decision aid improve decision making?
2. Does the use of a decision aid improve quality of life?

Conduct a multicenter randomized clinical trial to assess whether the use of
the decision aid results in optimization of shared-decision making and improved
quality of life in patients who have been accepted for aortic and/or mitral
valve replacement.

Randomized multicenter clinical trial.

Use by the patient of the clinical decision aid prior to the preoperative
consultation in which prosthetic valve selection is discussed. Control group
receives the standard preoperative consultation.

For participants of this study there aren*t any direct risks or benefits,
perhaps there are benefits for future patients.
Patient's burden: 30 minutes to read the webbased decision aid. 2x 15 minutes
time to completed the questionnaires.