PCORI-1502-27462 Navigating High Risk Surgery: Empowering Older Adults to Ask Questions That Inform Decisions About Surgical Treatment

Surgeons Inclusion Criteria: * Consenting surgeons at participating hospital sites who practice vascular, cardiothoracic, hepatobiliary, colorectal, urologic, gynecologic, head and neck or neurosurgery * Regularly see patients preoperatively in the surgical clinic * Perform high risk operations on older patients with multiple comorbid conditions Exclusion Criteria: * Exclusively perform minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopy), endocrine or breast surgery as these procedures are not typically considered "high risk" * Patient panel is not generally comprised of older adults considering high risk procedures Patients Inclusion Criteria: * Age 60 and older * One or more chronic conditions from a list comprised of those included in the Charlson Comorbidity Index with 9 additional conditions included due to their saliency to surgical decision making * Have an upcoming outpatient consultation with an enrolled surgeon to discuss treatment for a vascular or oncologic problem that can be treated with a high risk operation * English speaking and Spanish-speaking patients who require an interpreter will be included Exclusion Criteria: * Lack decision-making capacity * Deemed too physically or mentally ill to participate by their surgeon or clinic nurse * Self-report that their vision or literacy skills are too poor to read a newspaper * Cannot speak either English or Spanish with the fluency required to have a valid medical decision-making conversation as the QPL is currently on…