This July, individuals from all over the world gathered at the 2012 Dartmouth Summer Institute for Informed Patient Choice to discuss measurement of shared decision making (SDM) in clinical practice. During the three day conference, participants had the opportunity to hear from local, national and international leaders dedicated to developing and evaluating SDM and decision support tools. The discussions were led by Summer Institute co-directors Dale Collins Vidal and Karen Sepucha, and others including Glyn Elwyn, Elliott Fisher, Al Mulley and Annette O’Connor. They prompted participants to keep a single objective in mind througout the conference: how do we develop efficient, valid and reliable metrics for use of SDM in clinical settings?
To this end, presentations explored the following questions:
- What shared decision making metrics are currently being used?
- What role will Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and health information technology (HIT) play in measuring shared decision making?
- What are some examples of how shared decision making metrics have been implemented in clinical settings?
- What are the priorities and opportunities for participants in moving this field forward?
In addition, a group of six “patient advisors” represented the patient voice in health care and graciously shared their personal stories and insight with participants. Michael Barry, president of the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, had an opportunity to present data from our SDM Demonstration sites illustrating that patients not only liked decision aids but that they improve patients’ knowledge.
The Institute wrapped up with participant work groups addressing the top priorities in SDM measurement, noting the barriers to implementation and suggesting ways to address these challenges.
Many participants, including the Dartmouth Institute itself, were extremely active on Twitter throughout the conference, using the hashtag #SIIPC. Check out some of the highlights from the conversation in the Storify piece we created.
You may also be interested in a blog post by Summer Institute participant Thom Walsh, who provides his reflections on his experience at the conference.
