This is the second in a series of articles from the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research (NCEPCR) in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This series introduces sets of tools and resources designed to help your practice.
Family physicians increasingly recognize the importance of shared decision making, where the patient and provider work together to make a health care decision. Shared decision making means the decision takes into account evidence-based information about available options, the provider’s knowledge and experience, and the patient’s values and preferences. More and more patients and providers want to participate in shared decision making, but the “how” often is neglected in standard medical and graduate medical education. AHRQ provides two resources to assist in your practice’s use of shared decision making.
The SHARE Approach is a five-step process for shared decision making:
AHRQ’s SHARE Approach curriculum provides both a quick overview (for the busy clinician) and an extensive course (complete with slides and a trainer’s module). The website provides the clinician the opportunity to learn the key elements of the SHARE Approach, while providing the educator a full curriculum with slides, handouts, and a video in order to demonstrate the approach. Complementing the SHARE curriculum, AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program offers excellent, easy-to-read summaries of evidence reports to help clinicians and consumers make informed health care decisions. AHRQ recently released Lung Cancer Screening Tools, including a decision aid, for patients and clinicians to facilitate discussions about lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography.
The SHARE Approach and other tools can be found at the NCEPCR website.
Dr. Bierman is the director of the Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement at AHRQ. Dr. Ganiats is the director for the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research at AHRQ.
