Shared Decision Making

Abstract

Doctors and patients are faced with a daunting task: Find the best way to make the right medical choices together. The best way will need to consider how to get around real constraints on physicians and patients alike. Many factors contribute to our being over-tested and over-medicated. American doctors might be more in the habit of prescribing medications instead of counseling patients on behaviors that might reduce the need for medication in the first place. What tends to be missing from the discussion is how some patients are anxious, deeply anxious, about their overall health.

Nevertheless, it’s not unreasonable to assume that more and more physicians are embracing the concept of shared decision making and they are committed to allotting the time necessary to empower patients to become participants in the decision making process. But embracing a concept doesn’t automatically result in successful implementation. The seminal question remains: How do physicians and patients reach common ground! One of the ways to achieve that objective is by using robust and effective decision aids.