Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Jun;8(2):97-102.
doi: 10.1111/j.1369-7625.2005.00315.x.

The role of doctor's opinion in shared decision making: what does shared decision making really mean when considering invasive medical procedures?

Dennis J Mazur  1 , David H Hickam, Marcus D Mazur, Matthew D Mazur
Affiliations

The role of doctor's opinion in shared decision making: what does shared decision making really mean when considering invasive medical procedures?

Dennis J Mazur et al. Health Expect. 2005 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this study was to gain understanding about patients' perspectives on decision making in the context of invasive medical interventions and whether patients' decision-making preferences influenced the type of information they desired to be provided by physicians.

Design: Questionnaire study of consecutive patients in a university-based general medicine clinic.

Interventions: Patients were presented with a randomized list of three types of information that physicians could provide (risk, benefit and physician's opinion on whether they should undergo the procedure). Patients were asked whether they preferred patient-based, physician-based, or shared decision making and then were asked to select which one or combination of these three information types was most important to them in their own decision making. Patients were also asked to self-report on how many invasive procedures they had undergone in their own lives.

Participants: A total of 202 consecutive patients (mean age = 65.1 years, SD = 12.3, range 28-88; mean education 13.3 years, SD 2.9, range 2-23).

Main outcome measures: Patient reports.

Results: Of the 202 patients, two patients reported no decision-making preference. These two patients were excluded from the analysis. Of the 200 remaining patients, 62.5% (125/200) preferred shared, 22.5%(45/200) preferred physician-based, and 15.5% (31/200) preferred patient-based decision making. More than half of all subjects chose physician opinion as the most important type of information for decision making. Older patients (odds ratio 1.028; confidence interval 1.003-1.053) were more likely to have ranked the doctor's opinion as the most important in their decision making for invasive medical interventions.

Conclusions: Although most patients want to share decision making with their physicians regarding invasive procedures, the majority of these patients report relying on the doctor's opinion on whether to undergo the procedure as the most important information in their own decision making.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Edwards AGK, Elwyn GJ. Evidence‐Based Patient Choice – Inevitable or Impossible? New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.
    1. Mazur DJ. Shared Decision Making in the Patient–Physician Relationship: Challenges Facing Patients, Physicians, and Medical Institutions. Tampa, FL: American College of Physician Executives, 2001.
    1. Mazur DJ. The New Medical Conversation: Media, Patients, Doctors, and the Ethics of Scientific Communication. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.
    1. Sheridan SL, Harris RP, Woolf SH. Shared decision‐making workgroup of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2004; 26: 56–66. - PubMed
    1. Eng C, Iglehart D. Decision aids from genetics to treatment of breast cancer: long‐term clinical utility or temporary solution? Journal of the American Medical Association, 2004; 292: 496–498. - PubMed