This course deals with advanced topics in clinical decision making. We will discuss a proactive systematic approach to decision making in health care and review the principles of cost-effectiveness analysis. Special topics that will be addressed include problems with utility assessment and multi-attribute utility theory, cost-analysis, modeling issues, Markov process models, Monte Carlo simulation modeling, and Value of Information analysis. The course will consist of lectures in the morning and a computer practicum in the afternoon.
During the week you will be given the opportunity to work on an own case example. Think of a decision problem that you are currently involved in or were recently confronted with. It may be a clinical decision problem involving a patient you care for, a management decision problem you are struggling with, a public health policy problem you are involved with, or a personal (preferably medical) decision problem. It must, however, be something you are willing to talk about in class and are motivated to work on.
We will be doing assignments in class so bring a laptop.
Objective
- Presentation or paper of case example, illustrating that the student has understood and can apply the concepts taught in the course.
Required book: Hunink MGM, Glasziou PP, Siegel JE, Weeks JC, Pliskin JS, Elstein AS, Weinstein MC. Decision Making in Health and Medicine: Integrating Evidence and Values. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001.
Books are for sale during the Erasmus Winter Programme.