Table 3.

Surgeons’ Praise for the BC/WC Tool

Establishes a choice	“I think what I saw is the tool is that you paint the two options, where they are, and you paint a best and worst scenario of those two options as best you can I think, you know, I think it’s true that we often don’t have that structure in a conversation with patients when they make decisions”
Provides structure for physician	“I mean, having a structured sort of overview of what you should try to present, and we can all present it in our own ways, I think makes a lot of sense.”
Shows range of possible outcomes	“And I think the diagram gives, in a sense, gives a range of the possible outcomes and the constraints. So, you know, not on this is you go back to your independent living. That’s not a possibility here. So it’s a way of framing what are the constraints of your future”
Tangible visual framework	“I think the tool gives a visual and it can help, for her, help organize each thing and then she can decide what is more important to her based on a visual rather than trying to sort it all out in the, her brain.” “if you have something that they can hold and write down, and maybe they can write in their own goal so they invest in the process rather than, you know, however you decide to do it.”
Durable, can be used for future reference	“So I think the second trip back. Okay, now that, you know, ten minutes ago we discussed this, do you have questions? What didn’t you understand, and is there stuff I can help sort out, you know? So that you sort of let them expand on what they heard and what they didn’t hear.”
Can be used for other decisions	“I would say that not only is this valuable in conversation before surgery. I’m often having this conversation with families after surgery because there was no one to make a decision, they were taken emergently to the operating room by default, and then this is the conversation that we’re having with a patient critically ill in the ICU with an open abdomen. “

Abbreviation: ICU, intensive care unit.