Realistic Conversations: Shared Decision Making Polypharmacy for Primary Care Staff

A free online webinar for Primary Care staff  working in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who may be involved in shared decision making conversations .  This online session allows participants to watch a real time interactive demonstration led by EC4H tutors.   Participants will have the opportunity throughout the demonstration to contribute suggestions and feedback to the tutor team via the chat box.

Workshop overview

Scenario: Meg Shaw is an 88 year old lady who lives alone.  She has a diagnosis of mixed type dementia, hypertension and over the past 9 months, Meg has experienced three falls.  The most recent fall led to a brief hospital admission.  Today her daughter, Ruth Shaw, has a telephone call with the GP for a medication review.

Shared Decision Making, as defined by NICE in their 2021 guideline, is a collaborative process that involves a person and their healthcare professional working together to reach a joint decision about care. It could be care the person needs straightaway or care in the future, for example, through advance care planning. It involves choosing tests and treatments based both on evidence and on the person’s individual preferences, beliefs and values. It means making sure the person understands the risks, benefits and possible consequences of different options through discussion and information sharing. This joint process empowers people to make decisions about the care that is right for them at that time (with the options of choosing to have no treatment or not changing what they are currently doing always included).

In this scenario we demonstrate the use of the ‘DECIDE’ approach to structure the conversation, demonstrating the value of the clinician and the patient exploring options together.

Learning outcomes

Workshop participants will:

Review their current practice in communication about treatment related decision-making and consent

Working together, they will practice more effective ways to:

• Communicate information about risk clearly and effectively with a wide range of patients and families.
• Communicate the benefits and limitations of treatment in a balanced way.
• Manage patients and families who have unrealistic expectations of treatment and outcomes.
• Use decision aids to support effective communication and complex shared decision-making
• Respond to complaints about clinical decision-making and consent