What can we learn from rapidly developed patient decision aids produced during the covid-19 pandemic?

The World Health Organization reports that over half a billion confirmed cases and over six million deaths are attributed to the virus SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. This grim toll might be an undercount of the true burden.

Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, the scientific, medical, and public health responses have been remarkable. Scientific developments include an understanding of viral transmission, the effectiveness of public health measures, and the deployment of effective vaccines and antivirals. Although much work still needs to be done to ensure that these measures are equitably implemented worldwide, the speed of progress was remarkable. WHO estimates, for example, that over 11 billion vaccine doses have been given; although distribution of vaccine varies widely. These scientific developments have led to a wide variety of health decisions related to covid-19—including those made by governments, particularly by public health authorities; the vaccine and drug industry; and groups of health professionals. In this article, we focus on the decisions people had to make to prevent, test for, or treat covid-19 for themselves or their families (box 1).

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Published in: BMJ
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-071530