They call this informed decision making. The researchers feel today s medicine has moved to shared decision making, where physician and patient share in the exchange of information and in making the decision about treatment. In an interview, he said clinical interaction is a dynamic process that can involve elements of more than one model and can change over time.
Sharing has to be more than just sharing information.
Dr. Whelan said one reason shared decision making has come to the forefront now is because the tradeoffs in new medical therapies may be more subtle than they were in the past. Physicians recognize that treatment decisions aren't self-evident and that patients' input is necessary. Dr. Charles said since the patient will have to live with the consequences of his or her decision, it makes sense that the patient's values, rather than the physician's, should be paramount. The optimum scenario is for the patient to have all the relevant information about a treatment decision, understand it, and integrate it with their own value system. Research Dr. Charles and her colleagues have done with early-stage breast cancer patients has investigated this process.