For content related to shared decision making (SDM)
There are five requirements for successful shared decision making (SDM) between patients and their clinicians.
Shared decision making based on both evidence and patient preference is much in the medical literature of late. The part I don’t understand is why anyone would object.
Before you decide about treatment, you should ask about NNT and NNH. These are numbers that can help you understand how likely the treatment is to help (or harm) you. They are easy to understand - though they can seem confusing to calculate.
Evidence based medicine has much to offer, but one has to remember Einstein’s famous remark: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.”
The trend of the last two decades toward patient-centered (or family-centered) medicine is unmistakable and and a very good thing. Unfortunately, it is often discussed in the abstract, which obscured the fact that no two patients are identical in their needs or desires. Kevin Pho’s recent discussion gets it right: