Paul J. Barr, MSc, PhD
Associate Professor, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice
Paul is an Associate Professor in The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice with advanced training in quantitative and qualitative methods. He received a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Public Health (Health Services Research stream) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, England, and a PhD in Health Services Research from Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland. Paul’s research involves developing and evaluating measurement tools and interventions, to strengthen shared decision making and improve the communication of medical information with patients and their families. His recent work includes the development of a decision support tool for individuals with depression in collaboration with Mental Health America, with the goal of increasing mental health literacy and improving access to online evidence-based treatments.
Paul is also a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Patient and Family Engagement awardee. Through this award, Paul formed the Open Recordings research group, a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders and patients who study the potential clinical utility of recording information about healthcare clinic visits. The group is currently developing Health PAL, a personal health library where audio/video recordings of clinic visits are accessible to patients and caregivers, and key information is automatically indexed and connected to trustworthy online resources, with the goal of improving self-management (funding: National Library of Medicine; Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation). He has studied the use of recordings in different clinical settings and leads a Multi-Site Trial, funded by the National Institute on Aging, of the routine use of recordings in older adults in primary care.
Outside of work, Paul can be found chasing his two children up mountains and trying to keep up with his son as he skis back down, coaching 2nd Grade soccer in Lebanon, NH, teaching science at Mount Lebanon Elementary school as part of the Four Winds program and making furniture in the Dartmouth Woodshop.
Selected Publications
- Barr PJ, Bonasia K, Verma K, Dannenberg MD, Yi C, Andrews E, Palm M, Cavanaugh KL, Masel M, Durand MA. Audio-/videorecording clinic visits for patient's personal use in the United States: Cross-sectional survey. J Med Internet Res. 2018 Sep 12;20(9):e11308. doi: 10.2196/11308. PMID: 30209029; PMCID: PMC6231772.
- Elwyn G, Barr PJ, Piper S. Digital clinical encounters. BMJ. 2018 May 14;361:k2061. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k2061. Erratum in: BMJ. 2018 May 23;361:k2294. PMID: 29760149.
- Elwyn G, Barr PJ, Castaldo M. Can patients make recordings of medical encounters?: What does the law say? JAMA. 2017 Aug 8;318(6):513-514. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.7511. PMID: 28692707.
- Barr PJ, Dannenberg MD, Ganoe CH, Haslett W, Faill R, Hassanpour S, Das A, Arend R, Masel MC, Piper S, Reicher H, Ryan J, Elwyn G. Sharing annotated audio recordings of clinic visits with patients-development of the Open Recording Automated Logging System (ORALS): Study protocol. JMIR Res Protoc. 2017 Jul 6;6(7):e121. doi: 10.2196/resprot.7735. PMID: 28684387; PMCID: PMC5519830.
- Scholl I, Barr PJ. Incorporating shared decision making in mental health care requires translating knowledge from implementation science. World Psychiatry. 2017 Jun;16(2):160-161. doi: 10.1002/wps.20418. PMID: 28498597; PMCID: PMC5428170.
- Barr PJ, Forcino RC, Mishra M, Blitzer R, Elwyn G. Competing priorities in treatment decision-making: A US national survey of individuals with depression and clinicians who treat depression. BMJ Open. 2016 Jan 8;6(1):e009585. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009585. PMID: 26747036; PMCID: PMC4716198.
- Barr PJ, Scholl I, Bravo P, Faber MJ, Elwyn G, McAllister M. Assessment of patient empowerment--A systematic review of measures. PLoS One. 2015 May 13;10(5):e0126553. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126553. PMID: 25970618; PMCID: PMC4430483.
- Walsh T, Barr PJ, Thompson R, Ozanne E, O'Neill C, Elwyn G. Undetermined impact of patient decision support interventions on healthcare costs and savings: Systematic review. BMJ. 2014 Jan 23;348:g188. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g188. PMID: 24458654; PMCID: PMC3900320.
- Barr PJ, Thompson R, Walsh T, Grande SW, Ozanne EM, Elwyn G. The psychometric properties of CollaboRATE: A fast and frugal patient-reported measure of the shared decision-making process. J Med Internet Res. 2014 Jan 3;16(1):e2. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3085. Erratum in: J Med Internet Res. 2015;17(2):e32. Erratum in: J Med Internet Res. 2015;17(2):e32. PMID: 24389354; PMCID: PMC3906697.
- Barr PJ, Bailie KE. Transfusion thresholds in FOCUS. N Engl J Med. 2011 Dec 29;365(26):2532-3. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe1110087. Erratum in: N Engl J Med. 2012 Mar 15;366(11):1065. PMID: 22168589.