- Awarded Highest Grade in the Year -
Shared Decision-Making has not broken into clinical practice, and many healthcare teams believe they are successful in this approach when this is far from the truth. Moving away from the paternalistic approach is becoming more prevalent in Europe and the US, where patients are encouraged to voice their preferred method. However, as the pendulum swings away from doctor knows best and toward this shared approach, the method remains ambiguous for many.
The onus is often on the clinician to provide the voice for the patient awaiting an invitation to be heard. This approach should be between the two experts in the room – the patient and the consultant. Through a multi-model, my partner and I designed a personalised response to care through our various awareness outputs to provide the patient with responsibility and become a co-owner of their treatment plans/decisions.
When designing the public awareness campaign, I believed it was important to continually collaborate with both patient and professional when developing the project. Discussions were harnessed in various forms. For the professional side (Clinician) I began my research by observing patients in appointments and whether there was strong communication from both ends in regard to SDM. Whether a choice was provided and empathy shown were the key takeaways for the several interactions that took place.
I came to an understanding early on that the public awareness content would have to be presented in various formats in order to attain the patients recognition for shared decisions. A behavioural change was not something I was aiming for at this stage but rather if the campaign was rolled out by the Scottish Government further down the line.