Implementing Shared Decision-Making for Lung Cancer Screening across a Veterans Health Administration Hospital Network: A Hybrid Effectiveness–Implementation Study Protocol

Shared decision-making (SDM) for lung cancer screening (LCS) is recommended by multiple organizations, reflecting a larger movement toward patient-centered care. Yet SDM for LCS does not routinely occur owing to barriers at multiple levels. Moreover, how best to implement SDM into routine clinical practice remains unknown. There is a need for a novel approach to overcome multilevel barriers and ensure high-quality SDM for LCS is integrated into routine practice. We present the protocol for our U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-funded study. Our protocol is designed to implement and evaluate a multilevel, tailored approach to SDM for LCS in routine clinical practice within the VA New England Health Care Network, comprising eight medical centers. In this prospective, pragmatic hybrid implementation-effectiveness study, we will first conduct a formative evaluation of barriers to SDM for LCS at each level of the socioecological model, which will inform our tailored implementation plan. We will then sequentially introduce components of our tailored, multilevel approach to implementing SDM for LCS across VA New England. Finally, using mixed methods, we will evaluate the implementation and its impact on effectiveness (primary outcome, defined as patient-centeredness of SDM), as well as implementation outcomes informed by the RE-AIM implementation science framework (i.e., reach to patients, adoption by providers, implementation fidelity). Tailored implementation will address identified challenges to achieving policy recommendations for SDM for LCS in VA New England, inform nationwide implementation of SDM for LCS, and address stakeholder interests in promoting more patient-centered interactions across the VA.