Involving patients in decisions about their own health care by using decision aids - tools designed to help people better understand the risks and benefits of different options - during the patient-physician consultation appears to improve patient satisfaction and involvement.
In a study of 1,132 patients, those who were exposed to a simple decision aid to facilitate shared decision making about cardiovascular disease prevention were more involved and expressed higher satisfaction with the decision-making process than those who were not. Additionally, those who used the decision aid showed less decisional regret after six months.
Notably, cardiovascular disease risk decreased among all study participants, regardless of whether they were exposed to the decision aid.
Absolute Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Shared Decision Making in Primary Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial
By Tanja Krones, M.D., et al