Supporting Patient Goals Through Standardization and Documentation of Surgical Goals in the Electronic Health Record.

PROBLEM: Surgical goals should be plausible and valuable to patients. Yet the goal of surgery is rarely discussed preoperatively. METHODS: We used human centered design to develop and alpha test a strategy to document the goal of surgery for each episode of surgical care. FINDINGS: Surgeons can use this strategy to routinely document "What Matters" for older adults planning surgery.