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Shared Decision Making Along the Continuum of Care Wrap-up and a Preview of Policy and Decision Quality Week
Week Two of Shared Decision Making (SDM) Month was extremely thought-provoking with insight about how and when shared decision making is appropriate along the care continuum. We heard about the need to empower women to be active participants in their maternity care decisions during Wednesday’s webinar and discussed the relationship between shared decision making and palliative care in Tuesday’s tweet chat. In addition, we heard from a powerhouse panel of leading health care experts about the role of shared decision making in maternity care, mental health, diagnosis and end of life care during Wednesday evening’s in-person panel. Continue reading
Posted in Current News, SDM Month
Tagged care continuum, decision aids, decision quality, diagnosis, end of life, maternity care, mental health, patient-centered care, policy makers, quality care, shared decision making, Shared Decision Making Month, shared decision making policy
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3,500 Story Reviews and Blog Posts Later: Lessons from HealthNewsReview.org
I’ve been fortunate to be the Publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, leading a team of physicians, researchers, journalists and others trained in the evaluation of evidence as we try to improve the public dialogue about health care in the US. The team has evaluated more than 1,800 stories, applying 10 criteria that we think address issues that consumers need addressed whenever they hear claims about health care interventions. Nearly 70% of the 1,800+ stories we’ve reviewed get unsatisfactory grades for covering costs, and for quantifying harms and benefits. Continue reading
Shared Decision Making in Advance Care Planning: Improving Quality of Care While Reducing Emotional and Financial Burdens
Ensuring patients, family members and health care agents are informed and share in decisions about end-of-life and critical care is crucial to ensuring patients receive quality care. The average age of the population is rising, and along with it, the frequency and cost of late life care. The advance care planning process addresses both these issues. First, by focusing on quality of life for our aging population and promoting patient centered care. And second, by allowing for patient selected limitations on life prolonging measures which will decrease health care costs at end-of-life. Continue reading
Maureen Corry on Shared Decision Making
We are kicking off our “Shared Decision Making Month Along the Continuum of Care” week with a post from Maureen Corry who has served as executive director of Childbirth Connection since 1995, positioning the organization as a powerful and effective advocate for evidence-based maternity care and maternity care quality improvement. We asked Maureen a few questions about shared decision making and its potential to improve the quality of maternal health.
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Implementation Week Wrap-up and a Look Ahead to Next Week’s Continuum of Care Events
Week one of shared decision making (SDM) Month did not disappoint with great insight from providers, health systems, patients and others on the benefits and barriers to implementing shared decision making. We heard about innovative ways shared decision making is being implemented in the U.S. during Wednesday’s Shared Decision Making in the Real World webinar and got an international perspective during Tuesday’s first #SDMchat .
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Thinking about MAGIC: Working to Normalize Shared Decision Making in the UK
The MAGIC (Making Good Decisions in Collaboration) program is exploring how shared decision making can be embedded in the core clinical practice of mainstream health services in the UK. The program is support by the Health Foundation and according to their website, “Our MAGIC programme is working with frontline health professionals and their priority projects across the UK to test how to embed best practice and overcome the barriers to change. We are one year into the programme and so far we’re seeing some interesting and inspiring results. We think we’re on our way to making healthcare more patient-centred and influencing more healthcare professionals to give patients the choice and involvement they are asking for.” In this guest post, Glyn Elwyn who co-lead the initial phase of the program with Richard Thomson, reflects back on his team’s involvement in MAGIC. Continue reading
Getting Shared Decision Making Tools Right: Insight from Mayo Clinic’s Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit
Today’s blog post was written after speaking with Victor Montori and Annie LeBlanc, both members of Mayo Clinic’s Knowledge and Evaluation Research (KER) Unit. KER was formed in 2004 to translate medical evidence into clinical practice using shared decision making as its main methodology. The KER Unit has been designing and studying decision tools in clinical practice for eight years. In this guest post, we provide highlights of some of the Unit’s work and lessons learned from developing and implementing shared decision making tools. Continue reading
A Fix for Shared Decision Making Implementation Failures
During Shared Decision Making Month, we will feature a number of guest bloggers who are working to advance shared decision making around the world. This guest post is by Don Kemper, MPH, Founder and CEO of Healthwise.
In my last visit with my doctor I asked if I should get a shot to prevent shingles. He didn’t think I needed it, but when I asked why not he gave me a link to a decision aid on his hospital’s website. He also promised that if I chose to get it I could just drop by—no appointment or visit would be needed. I stopped in the lobby and looked at the decision aid on my smart phone. It took me less than five minutes to reach my informed decision. I got the shot on the spot. It was easy on the clinical workflow and I appreciated saving the extra trip. Little by little, shared decision making is becoming a reality. Continue reading
Shared Decision Making Month is Here: Let’s Talk Implementation
Shared Decision Making (SDM) Month has finally arrived! Over the next four weeks, an all-star lineup of experts will contribute to a variety of events focused on how shared decision making can improve the quality of health care and help make care more patient-centered.
The theme of the first week (March 4-8) is “Shared Decision Making Implementation in the Real World.” Throughout the week, we will hear from SDM Month contributors about the nature of implementing shared decision making into clinical practice, including the development and integration of decision aids. Continue reading
Posted in Current News, SDM Month
Tagged Adrian Sieff, Angela Coulter, Annie LeBlanc, Charles Keller, decision aids, Donald Kemper, Engaging Patients, Glyn Elwyn, Group Health, Ishani Ganguli, Jeff Belkora, March 2013, Mayo Clinic, Megan Bowen, Nancy Rothman, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, patient-centered care, quality care, shared decision making, shared decision making implementation, Shared Decision Making Month, The Health Foundation, Victor Montori
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Peter Ubel on Shared Decision Making
We are kicking off Shared Decision Making Month with our first guest post by Peter Ubel, physician and author of “Critical Decisions.” We asked Peter a few questions about shared decision making and what you’ll read below is his insightful take on what shared decision making is, what it isn’t and why it is important to the future of medicine.
In your own words, what is shared decision making and how does it improve the quality of health care?
Put simply, shared decision making is the gold standard — the sine qua non* — for how medical decisions ought to be made. The right medical choice is rarely a function of medical facts alone. Tough decisions require value judgments, and it is the patient’s values that often determine which choice is best.
An operation cannot be a “success” unless it was the right course of action to take for an individual patient. Treatment cannot “work” unless it was the treatment that best fits that patient’s individual preferences. Quality of care begins with shared decision making. Continue reading
