We are pleased to announce the release of our newest report on sharing decision making (SDM) research (PDF 811 kb). For nearly a decade, the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation has funded research grants and fellowships to help broaden our knowledge of how medical decisions are made, and how to increase patient involvement in the process.
“We’ve reached a juncture where we thought it was a good time to put together a document that displays some of the highlights of the research we have supported over the last few years,” says Floyd J. Fowler, Foundation senior scientific advisor. “There are things we know now that we didn’t know just a few years ago that are highlighted in this report, which we hope can help researchers and others promote shared decision making moving forward.”
For many years the Foundation has been one of the only institutions seeking and funding researchers interested in studying the various aspects of SDM. As a result, the researchers we’ve funded have made major contributions to our understanding of key issues related to the importance of SDM, and involving and informing patients in the process.
The research areas we have supported are varied, but have generally included one of these research goals:
- To understand drivers of practice variation in medical care
- To assess how decisions are being made and to develop measures of decision quality
- To learn how best to convey medical information to patients
- To learn how to activate patients to become informed and involved in decisions about their health
- To learn how to best facilitate productive interactions between patients and their doctors
This report also includes a list of publications that have resulted from the Foundation-funded research highlighted. In addition, you can find a wealth of other SDM-related research in the Research section of our website.
Download Foundation-funded Research Highlights. (PDF 811 kb)
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