BMJ 1999;318:318-322 ( 30 January )

Education and debate

Sharing decisions with patients: is the information good enough?

Editorial by Richards and Coulter

Angela Coulter, director of policy and development, ^a Vikki Entwistle, senior research fellow, ^b David Gilbert, research officer. ^a

^a King's Fund, London W1M 0AN, ^b Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD

Correspondence to: Dr Coulter acoulter@kehf.org.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Shared decision making, in which patients and health professionals join in both the process of decision making and ownership of the decision made, is attracting considerable interest as a means by which patients' preferences can be incorporated into clinical decisions.¹ When there are several treatment options which may have different effects on the patient's quality of life, there is a strong case for offering patients choice. Their active involvement in decision making may increase the effectiveness of the treatment.

Trials are currently under way to test this hypothesis formally, but there are good grounds for optimism. Patients with hypertension benefit if they are allowed to adopt an active rather than a passive role in treatment, ^{2 3} patients with breast cancer suffer less depression and anxiety if they are treated by doctors who adopt a participative consultation style,⁴ and patients who are more actively involved in discussions about the management of their . . . [Full text of this article]

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