Development of a Patient Decision Aid for Refractive Eye Surgery

Abstract

To address the needs of patient decision aid for refractive eye surgery, we developed a web-based tool, EyeChoose, which provides patient education, assists in selection of a specific surgical modality, generates customized recommendations, and links patients to local surgeons, targeting specifically the population of college students. We conducted a focus group interview for needs assessment. We designed a scoring algorithm to provide customized recommendation of surgical modalities based on a patient's medical history and personal preferences. We completed a prototype implementation of the tool. Initial data from a validation study indicated that the system achieved 99.18% accuracy in its recommendation. A study to examine the usefulness and usability of EyeChoose is ongoing. Future research is required to implement the tool in naturalistic settings and to examine the generalizability of the findings to other populations.