DSS Walkthrough

WELCOME SCREEN

An introduction is displayed to the user once the model opened. Here we explain the purpose of the tool, the scope of the tool, how it works, and the approximate time for completion. In addition, there is a disclaimer stating the tool requires some personal and health information that will not be disclosed to anyone.

USER PROFILE SCREEN

The User Profile tab is designed to save personal information about the patient. The only field that is required on this tab in order for the model to run is the patient’s age. In this tab the patient can create a username and password for future retrieval of information. However, this feature has not yet been implemented.

HEALTH PROFILE SCREEN

The Health Profile tab is split into two sections: General Health and Prostate Cancer Information. The General Health section can be used to gauge the patient’s overall health. The patient can answer the questions listed in this section using the drop down choices.

The second section determines the patient’s stage of prostate cancer. This section is required for the model to run. The patient can enter their prostate cancer stage if they already know it. If not, their stage can be computed based off their PSA level, Gleason Score, and TNM staging. For patients unfamiliar with TNM staging system, there is a link to a tab with explanations.

This tab is where the patient ranks their preferences for side effects of prostate cancer treatments. The worst case scenario for each side effect is displayed. In addition, the user can click on the side effect which is linked to a table in order to get more information. The patient can rank these using the drop down menus. Once the user ranks the side effects, a graph will be populated that displays the weights of each side effect. The user can then tweak the relative weights if the graph does not represent their preferences.