Should I Continue Taking My Acid Reflux Medication? Development and Pilot Testing of a Patient Decision Aid

BACKGROUND: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) treat problems such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In many patients with mild or moderate GERD, PPIs should be used for 1-2 months but are often continued longer unnecessarily. This is a problem because PPIs may cause harm when used long-term. PPI use is associated with severe C. difficile infections, fractures and pneumonia. Canada's public drug programs spent $247 million on PPIs in 2012 (not including Quebec or PEI). Due to concerns with long-term PPI use, patients may face the decision to continue their PPI, use a lower dose or stop and use on-demand (only when symptoms return). This decision should be made collaboratively between patients and clinicians, though patients tend to have a poor understanding of when reducing a drug is appropriate. Using a lower dose or using on-demand may be viewed as difficult because of the chance of symptoms returning. Patient decision aids (PDAs) inform patients on benefits and risks of treatment options and improve ability to make informed decisions and clarify values. OBJECTIVES: Develop a PDA to help patients with the decision to continue PPI or stop and use on-demand/use a lower dose. Evaluate whether: 1) the PDA changes patient preference to continue or stop and use on-demand/use a lower dose of PPI 2) the PDA improves patient knowledge and realistic expectations 3) patients and pharmacists feel they made a shared decision 4) there is a change in PPI prescribing 8 weeks post-PDA and 5) patients' choices match up with their values. METHODOLOGY: The PDA will be developed by a team of doctors, pharmacists and patients. It will be delivered during a visit with a pharmacist. Patients (n=54) will indicate which choice they prefer (continue PPI/stop or use lower dose) before and after going through the PDA. We will use Mcnemar's test to compare the number of patients preferring to continue their PPI before and after. We will evaluate whether there is a difference in knowledge test scores and expectations test scores before and after the PDA. After the PDA, we will ask patients and pharmacists to rate the extent to which shared decision making occurred and measure the agreement. Values/choice congruence will be evaluated using logistic regression. Eight weeks after patients have received the PDA, we will look at whether there is any reduction in PPI use.