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Putting shared decision making to work in breast and prostate cancers: tools for community oncologists
1 Health Decision Research Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, and 2 Decision Services, University of California, San Francisco, CA
A diagnosis of prostate or breast cancer throws patients into a state of cognitive and emotional overload. Patient anxiety and confusion can be exacerbated when there is no single dominant treatment, but rather multiple treatment options that require patients and oncologists to make trade-offs between benefits and harms. Patients rely on their oncologists to guide them to good decisions. There are an increasing number of tools available to help oncologists engage and educate their patients before, during, and after consultations. We discuss four tools that are available to community oncology practices: decision aids; prompt sheets; knowledge and preference surveys; and structured consultation notes. Community oncologists may wish to adapt and implement these tools in their practices to help their patients make informed choices.
| Commun Oncol 2007;4:685–689, 691 | full text |  125 kb |