New Tools Could Boost Patient-Centered Care

Designed to support shared decision-making between patients and clinicians, the support tools can be used throughout the treatment pathway.  These easy-to-read documents cover a wide range of disease areas, including rheumatology, cardiology, ophthalmology and neurology.

They serve to:

• Guide patients and clinicians through the decision-making process step by step
• Detail treatment and care options in an unbiased manner
• Include clear and easy-to-understand information about the condition and treatment options
• Encourage patients and clinicians to identify the factors that matter most to them
• Engage those with lived experiences of the disease to ensure patient voice and representation
• Ensure that patients have the necessary information to feel supported in the decision-making process

These new resources reflect the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s standards framework, which outlines a series of 14 criteria to review when creating these decision aids and other resources on shared-decision making.

Patient Empowerment & Individualized Care

The decision support tools encourage active and equal participation by both clinicians and patients in the treatment process. In particular, they aim to promote patient empowerment and ensure that patients’ priorities are recognized.

These new tools reflect a growing interest in patient-centered care, both in the UK and beyond. Shared decision-making is a cornerstone of patient-centered care because it encourages a collaborative process through which individual patients and their clinicians decide together what treatment path is best. Involving the patient in the treatment process can help to ensure that they receive access to the care that is right for them as individuals.

Shared-decision making and patient-centered care stand to improve patient access, adherence and health outcomes across disease states and across the globe.