On August 6th, Young Patients’ AREA hosted our first event of the year, Choose Your Own Adventure: Making Health Choices 101. This webinar, led by council member Hayden, introduced shared decision-making, identified ways patients can introduce it into their own care, and shared personal experiences from council members Ela and Kelsey. Additionally, our team created pocket card resources for you to print and carry with you to your appointments to help facilitate shared decision-making conversations with your healthcare team! Below you will find a detailed summary of the event content. The complete recording can be found here.
What is Shared Decision-Making?
Shared decision-making happens when patients and their healthcare providers work together to make decisions about treatment that are informed by science, the patient’s history, and the patient’s values and preferences. This differs from healthcare models where healthcare providers make decisions for their patients, and simply prescribe treatment plans without much patient input.
An important part of shared decision-making is the conversation between healthcare providers and patients. This allows the medical team to inform the patient of relevant information regarding their treatment options and also allows the patient to inform their medical team about their treatment preferences. Collaboration ensures that the decision made positively impacts the patient’s health and daily living.
Shared decision-making is beneficial to many patients as it allows care teams to identify patients’ largest concerns and collaborate to identify solutions. This collaborative process helps improve patients’ healthcare experiences in and out of the clinic and facilitates positive visits and relationships. It also allows patients to have more freedom in directing the focus conversation during appointments. By identifying and selecting treatments that are most compatible with their lifestyle and preferences, patients generally have more positive perceptions toward their care and treatment.
Implementing Shared Decision-Making: Choice Talk, Option Talk, and Decision Talk
Elwyn et al. introduces the idea of Choice Talk, Option Talk, and Decision Talk to implement shared decision-making in healthcare settings.
Choice Talk is when you and your team identify available and reasonable treatment options. This type of conversation does not necessarily go in-depth about the treatment options, but instead provides a brief overview of the different options you can choose from and directions you can go with your treatment plan. During these conversations it may be helpful to write down all the options discussed with your care team, so you can reference them again at a later time and do further research into each option.
Option Talk is when you and your team discuss more detailed information about the treatment options discussed during Choice Talk. You may already have one or two preferred treatment options, but this is your opportunity to thoroughly understand each one and make sure your expectations surrounding the treatments are realistic. It is always helpful to ask questions about anything that is unclear, and to ask your team to repeat information so you can write it down and reference it later.
Decision Talk is when you consider your options and preferences to make a decision. This is the time to identify the variables that are most important to you. How often do you want to take medication? Is nausea a side-effect you absolutely cannot tolerate? Do you prefer infusions over injections? Or injections over pills? Consider your own preferences before making a final decision. Defer if you need to! It is perfectly reasonable to ask for more time to think about your options. It is sometimes helpful to discuss your options with someone you trust outside of the appointment.
Shared Decision-Making Pocket Card
We have created a pocket card resource for you to download and carry with you to your appointments to help facilitate shared decision-making conversations with your healthcare team. Click here to download and print the PDF, then bring it with you to your appointment for reference!
Final Reminders
We hope you’ll keep building these skills and using your voice in your healthcare journey. Whether you’re new to the concept or already practicing it, remember that you deserve to be heard and to have a say in your treatment decisions.
References
Elwyn, G. et al. (2012). Shared decision making: A model for clinical practice. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 27(10), 1361-1367. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-012-2077-6
