Mary C. Politi, PhD

How New Trump Multiyear Policy Makes NIH Grants Even Harder To Get The new Trump administration multiyear funding policy for NIH grants has dropped National Cancer Institute grant funding rates from one in 10 applicants to one in 25.

www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...

How to Communicate Medical Numbers This JAMA Insights provides evidence-based recommendations for communicating numerical information to patients.

Presenting numbers using evidence-based strategies may support patient understanding and engagement in care. Nice work @bzikmund.bsky.social @angiefagerlin.bsky.social @athorpe8.bsky.social jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Automated production of comparison tables for shared decision making: Comparing a human-generated table (Option Grid), a search engine process, and outputs from four large language models To explore the ability of artificial intelligence to produce comparison tables to facilitate shared decision-making.An expert human-generated comparis…

LLMs can produce comparison tables to support #shareddecisionmaking, but need to be reviewed and checked by experts. Some of the details they produce are less accurate and less readable than those created by people. nice work @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Advice for Improving the Experience of Web-Based Patient Portals: Qualitative Interviews With Caregiver-Adolescent Dyads Background: Web-based patient portals can benefit adolescents and their caregivers by increasing access and providing greater understanding of one’s health information, enhancing communication with cl...

nice work by Bryan Sisk et al talking about the experience and design of patient portals for adolescents, and suggestions for communication with families now that clinical documentation is viewable to patients and caregivers. pediatrics.jmir.org/2025/1/e72134/

Building momentum: School of Public Health marks milestones The School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis is rapidly expanding with new people, spaces and initiatives. In August, faculty and staff gathered to begin shaping the school’s stra...

"As the newest school at WashU, the School of Public Health is built to thrive within a powerful ecosystem of interdisciplinary research and practice, forging connections across the university to amplify its impact. " Read more here: source.washu.edu/2025/09/buil...

The limits of shared decision making The foundation of shared decision making (SDM) is the view that people should be aware of relevant choices, and that their personal views, priorities and preferences are relevant factors when determin...

great paper by @glynelwyn.bsky.social et al about the limits of shared decision making. "the need for SDM is increasing... Nevertheless, as we outline, there are situations that limit when decisions can, or should, be shared." ebm.bmj.com/content/28/4...

Trends in Colorectal Cancer Screening in US Adults Aged 45 to 49 Years This study evaluates changes in colorectal cancer screening uptake among adults aged 45 to 49 years.

"The possible lack of progress among lower-educated and uninsured individuals may foreshadow widening disparities." One strategy to improve screening includes mailed FIT test interventions...I wonder why we do not do this as often and use colonoscopy first. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The front cover of the forthcoming Oxford Textbook of Shared Decision Making in Healthcare.

I'm delighted to announce our forthcoming Oxford Textbook of Shared Decision Making in Healthcare (4th Edition).

Glyn Elwyn
Adrian Edwards

Publication date - late August 2025. Pre-order available now. Further updates to follow.

📖 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

#shareddecisionmaking

Patients With Answers In this narrative medicine essay, a family medicine physician works through the challenge of responding to the medical advice patients bring from ChatGPT to understanding patients’ need to be heard.

"When patients feel unheard, arming themselves with knowledge becomes a strategy to be taken seriously... If patients are arming themselves with information to be heard, our task as clinicians is to meet them with recognition, not resistance." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Over One-Third of Surgical Patients Report Inadequate Shared Decision-Making: Opportunities for Improvement From the ACS NSQIP PROMs Project - PubMed SDM is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered care, yet this study identified that over a third of surgical patients reported inadequate SDM. Attention paid to improving SDM is criti...

Shared Decision Making is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered care, yet this study identified that over a third of surgical patients reported inadequate SDM, especially in rural settings. FYI @glynelwyn.bsky.social pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40528763/

Estimated Out-of-Pocket Cost for Privately Insured Patients With Common Cancers This cohort study investigates the out-of-pocket costs associated with breast, colorectal, and lung cancer among patients younger than 65 years with private insurance.

The authors found a mean monthly increase of $592 in out-of-pocket costs after a cancer diagnosis, and an annual cost increase of $4145. This increase underscores the financial burden of cancer care on patients with insurance who are not yet eligible for Medicare. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Translational framework for implementation evaluation and research: implementation strategies derived from normalization process theory - Implementation Science Background Implementation strategies are deliberate systematic actions used to support the uptake of innovations in health and social care. While widely used taxonomies such as ERIC and EPOC have emer...

"These strategies support practical decision-making across the planning, delivery, and sustainment phases of implementation, and offer context-sensitive guidance for adapting interventions to diverse settings." #impsci implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Designing for dissemination through community advisory board engagement in an implementation mapping process: A case study - PubMed Sharing power and decision-making enhanced the capacity for local-level dissemination, which is much needed to advance the science of community partnerships.

excellent paper & case study about designing for dissemination through community engagement. "Sharing power and decision-making enhanced the capacity for local-level dissemination, which is much needed to advance the science of community partnerships." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40665973/

new SBM toolkit with resources to address misinformation, including the difference between misinformation (shared unintentionally) and disinformation (deliberately spread to deceive). www.sbm.org/scicomm/comb...

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate innovative decision support in the context of fall prevention - npj Digital Medicine npj Digital Medicine - A randomized controlled trial to evaluate innovative decision support in the context of fall prevention

Falls are a major cause of injuries among older people, with medication being a key risk factor. The SNOWDROP intervention increased shared decision-making, patients’ satisfaction w/communication, and reduced decisional conflict with no change in beliefs about meds. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making - npj Digital Medicine npj Digital Medicine - Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making

Systematic review to understand users perspectives on AI-enabled decision aids to inform shared decision making. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Accurate is not enough: select formats for communicating probabilities to achieve specific outcomes In 20 years of researching and teaching health risk communication methods, the most common question we get is: how should I communicate this [adverse event risk, survival probability, etc.] so that pa...

thoughtful work as always by @bzikmund.bsky.social and Dr. Ancker about how we choose which risk communication method/format to use (Tl;dr: it depends on our goals of risk communication): ebm.bmj.com/content/earl...

Commercial Price Variation for Common Services in General Surgery This cross-sectional study uses Hospital Price Transparency and Transparency in Coverage data to examine variation in commercial insurance payment rates for common surgical services.

"The findings of this cross-sectional study highlight substantial variation in commercial pricing for general surgery services, with facility prices exhibiting greater variability, especially for endoscopic procedures." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

“Nothing Is as Great a Learning Experience as Getting a $15,000 Bill”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experience With Insurance Coverage | JCO Oncology Practice PURPOSETo explore long-term young adult (YA) cancer survivors' experience with health insurance in a post–Affordable Care Act (ACA) era.METHODSThis was a mixed-methods analysis of insurance-related da...

Nothing Is as Great a Learning Experience as Getting a $15,000 Bill”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Experience With Insurance Coverage. FYI @ashhoustenotd.bsky.social ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Omg @wrightcensored.bsky.social did it she’s wearing her old poster at #SMDM25

Costs of non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment among privately insured men in the United States Background Our objective was to quantify the cumulative total and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for 3 non-metastatic prostate cancer treatment modalities: radiation, surgery, and conservative management a...

great work Ashley Housten et al quantifying prostate cancer treatment costs. This work came out of clinicians asking about relative costs of treatment to inform shared decision making. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

WashU experts defend fluoride with facts Amid growing misinformation, Washington University in St. Louis health experts provided Rolla leaders with clear data to support smart health policy. City leaders voted to preserve fluoride in the wat...

great work by Renee Parks & Ross Brownson of the Prevention Research Center at WashU. "In a time of growing misinformation and political pressure, WashU researchers are cutting through the noise with scientific data and trusted guidance..." source.washu.edu/2025/05/wash...

Communicating Numeric Risk Information to Patients - PubMed Risk information is increasingly available to health care providers and patients thanks to a growing body of health outcomes research and clinical prediction models. Meanwhile, communicating such info...

great work by @ellenpeters.bsky.social et al. Best practices include communicating with numbers; decreasing cognitive effort; providing meaning of numeric risk data; acknowledging uncertainty; testing communication through teach-back. #medsky pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40301218/

Patient Reactions to Artificial Intelligence–Clinician Discrepancies: Web-Based Randomized Experiment Background: As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved use of artificial intelligence (AI) for medical imaging rises, radiologists are increasingly integrating AI into their clinical practi...

Interesting findings that patients might trust clinicians less if they recommend less intensive testing or follow up compared to AI. @bzikmund.bsky.social et al www.jmir.org/2025/1/e68823/

Many are asking how they can help. I am still stunned by the power of this storm and know that recovery will be a long process. TY to the WashU community for letting us know how we can come together to support the community of those in need. stlouis.washu.edu/st-louis-sto...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

excellent article by #WashU colleagues in the bioethics research center about responsible sharing of qualitative research findings. "As more qualitative researchers (QRs) share sensitive data, they will need support to share responsibly." journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Over 90% of Americans rely on federally funded science, But only 10% are worried about losing access to it.

That’s a dangerous disconnect.

Help us close the gap. Join our #SummerFightForScience and help spread the word about how essential science is to everyday lives.

www.npr.org/2025/05/06/n...

Social Needs in Cancer Survivors: A Scoping Review and Future Directions - PubMed We conducted a scoping review to determine what is known about the prevalence and consequences of unmet social needs in U.S. cancer survivors, what screening tools are used to assess these needs, and ...

unmet social needs in survivors of cancer pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40323567/

join us at the ICTS symposium this Wed on Accelerating Translation: The Science of Moving Forward. #impsci @anabaumann.bsky.social @erikawatersphd.bsky.social research.washu.edu/events/event...

Tiered Clinician Vaccine Communication Strategy for Childhood Vaccine Uptake This cluster randomized clinical trial of parent-child dyads examines the effect of a clinician vaccine communication strategy on vaccine uptake among children of parents with negative vaccine attitud...

important study testing tiered communication (recommending 1st, then discussing if hesitancy arises) for on-time vaccinations. Larger cultural norms and information outside of practice may be more influential. Recording sessions could also help shed light on convos. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...