Vascular Access Options in Coronary Angiogram Procedures: A Patient Decision Aid Randomized Controlled Trial

Coronary angiogram (CA) procedures, with and without angioplasty, can be performed via vascular access in the wrist (radial artery) or leg (femoral artery). Both radial and femoral artery vascular access have their advantages and disadvantages, but neither has yet been proven to have superior health outcomes. Often patients are eligible for both access sites but are not well informed regarding the potential advantages and disadvantages of each site. Vascular access in cardiac catheterization can be considered a "grey zone", where the benefits and harms may have different levels of significance depending on the individual's preferences and values. For example, patients with significant back pain may not prefer the femoral approach as it requires the patient to lie flay for an extended period of time compared to the radial approach.

For "grey zone" health care options, Patient Decision Aids (PtDA) have been demonstrated to improve the quality of decision making by significantly improving knowledge of the patient's health care options, improving the patient's accurate risk perception, and improving value congruence with the chosen options.

The investigators propose a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the decision quality impact of a vascular access PtDA compared to "usual care" in eligible patient's undergoing elective CA procedures. If the PtDA is demonstrated to positively impact the decision quality of patients prior to CA procedures, it would be an invaluable bedside tool to promote patient informed medical decision making.

Hypothesis:

The investigators believe that a PtDA, when compared to usual care, will positively impact the decision quality and the process of decision making, relating to vascular access options in eligible patients undergoing elective CA procedures.