What is a clinical decision analysis study?

Abstract

Decision making in clinical practice often involves the need to make complex and intricate decisions with important long-term consequences. Decision analysis is a tool that allows users to apply evidence-based medicine to make informed and objective clinical decisions when faced with complex situations. A Decision Tree, together with literature-derived probabilities and defined outcome values, is used to model a given problem and help determine the best course of action. Sensitivity analysis allows an exploration of important variables on final clinical outcomes. A decision-maker can thereafter establish a preferred method of treatment and explore variables which influence the final outcome. The present paper is intended to give an overview of decision analysis and its application in clinical decision making.