BACKGROUND: For many healthcare decisions, multiple alternatives are available 
with different combinations of advantages and disadvantages across several 
important dimensions. The complexity of current healthcare decisions thus 
presents a significant barrier to informed decision making, a key element of 
patient-centered care.Interactive decision dashboards were developed to 
facilitate decision making in Management, a field marked by similarly 
complicated choices. These dashboards utilize data visualization techniques to 
reduce the cognitive effort needed to evaluate decision alternatives and a 
non-linear flow of information that enables users to review information in a 
self-directed fashion. Theoretically, both of these features should facilitate 
informed decision making by increasing user engagement with and understanding of 
the decision at hand. We sought to determine if the interactive decision 
dashboard format can be successfully adapted to create a clinically realistic 
prototype patient decision aid suitable for further evaluation and refinement.
METHODS: We created a computerized, interactive clinical decision dashboard and 
performed a pilot test of its clinical feasibility and acceptability using a 
multi-method analysis. The dashboard summarized information about the 
effectiveness, risks of side effects and drug-drug interactions, out-of-pocket 
costs, and ease of use of nine analgesic treatment options for knee 
osteoarthritis. Outcome evaluations included observations of how study 
participants utilized the dashboard, questionnaires to assess usability, 
acceptability, and decisional conflict, and an open-ended qualitative analysis.
RESULTS: The study sample consisted of 25 volunteers - 7 men and 18 women - with 
an average age of 51 years. The mean time spent interacting with the dashboard 
was 4.6 minutes. Mean evaluation scores on scales ranging from 1 (low) to 7 
(high) were: mechanical ease of use 6.1, cognitive ease of use 6.2, emotional 
difficulty 2.7, decision-aiding effectiveness 5.9, clarification of values 6.5, 
reduction in decisional uncertainty 6.1, and provision of decision-related 
information 6.0. Qualitative findings were similarly positive.
CONCLUSIONS: Interactive decision dashboards can be adapted for clinical use and 
have the potential to foster informed decision making. Additional research is 
warranted to more rigorously test the effectiveness and efficiency of patient 
decision dashboards for supporting informed decision making and other aspects of 
patient-centered care, including shared decision making.