In modern medicine, informed decision-making has become a cornerstone of patient-centric care.
Patient decision aid encompasses the idea of equipping patients with not just any health information, but detailed, relevant knowledge about their health condition, treatment options, and potential outcomes. Making informed medical decisions means actively involving patients in the decision-making process by ensuring they understand the implications of their choices. It’s about moving beyond a one-sided clinician-led model to a collaborative approach where patients and families, guided by the values and preferences of the patient, work together with health care providers to choose the best course of action.
Understanding informed decision making
Informed decision-making in healthcare is a multi-faceted process. At its core, it involves providing patients with evidence-based information about their condition, possible treatment options, and the health risks and benefits associated with each option. This process is further enriched through the use of decision aids, which are tools designed to help patients and families understand the often complex information surrounding their medical decision making. Decision aids can take many forms, including brochures, videos, or interactive online modules, all aimed at simplifying health information and making it more accessible.
It’s also important that there’s a systematic review process. This means clinicians must not only provide information but also engage in shared decision making, a process where clinicians and patients collaborate to make health care decisions. Shared treatment decisions take into account the patient’s lifestyle, values, and the impacts of potential choices on the patient’s overall quality of life. It transitions the role of patients from passive recipients of health care to active participants in their health care journey, ensuring that the decisions made truly reflect what is most important to the patient.
Understanding individual risks to make an informed choice
For one to truly understand individual risks, providers need to incorporate multiple levels of individualized analysis. This is why functional medicine providers take the time to ask about family history and explore genetic testing if indicated.
Patient-first providers who are trying to take active steps to prevent diseases need to know what an individual is more at risk for. For example, if a parent, grandparents or sibling of the patient has an illness, the provider should not only be screening for it, but helping the patient take active steps to prevent developing this illness in the future.
This would include giving specific directions on diet, lifestyle, supplementation, and medication choices for the patient.
Functional health providers also help patients understand their unique risks by taking a thorough social history. This is because individuals have risks based on their occupation, regular exposures, hobbies, and types of environments they live in or visit often.
Have you ever had a doctor ask seemingly invasive questions? Maybe you feel the questions aren’t directly related to your health concern. But this means that your provider cares enough to gather a complete understanding of your full picture of risk.
Another way certified doctors provide decision support is by ordering comprehensive annual lab work. Most conventional medical providers only run a basic metabolic panel blood count, maybe an estimated cholesterol and blood sugar panel, if the patient is lucky.
Naturopathic medical doctors order more comprehensive labs to more fully evaluate what is happening in the body to provide patients and their families with more data. A truly helpful annual lab test list would include comprehensive metabolic markers, blood counts, direct lipids, vitamin levels, hormones and inflammation markers. Functional physicians take this a step further and actually explain the results to the patient, looking beyond conventional reference ranges so that they can make the decision that’s right for them.
What are the benefits of informed medical decision making?
Engaging in informed health decision-making brings multifaceted benefits. For patients, it cultivates a sense of empowerment and control over their health journey. By understanding their health condition and the potential outcomes of different treatment options, patients can make choices that align more closely with their personal preferences and life goals. This alignment is crucial, as it can significantly affect a patient’s satisfaction with their treatment and their overall health outcomes. Furthermore, when patients make informed health decisions, it can lead to more appropriate utilization of medical resources, reducing unnecessary treatments that might not align with their values and preferences.
Caring providers who practice functionally want patients to make an informed choice when it comes to treatment options. They don’t just want patients to take a pill or shot if it’s unnecessary, they want to educate their patients that more options can exist before reaching for pharmaceuticals. While medications are sometime necessary, changes to lifestyle, diet, exercise, vitamins, minerals, or herbs can be considered first if possible.
From the provider’s perspective, fostering an environment where health care choices are prioritized can lead to better patient-provider relationships. When patients feel understood and supported in their decision-making process, trust builds between them and their health care providers. This trust is essential for effective communication, adherence to treatment plans, and patient satisfaction.
Moreover, implementing decision aids and promoting shared decision making can improve the quality of care by ensuring that health choices are personalized and based on the best available evidence. Ultimately, informed healthcare decisions benefit the entire healthcare system by aligning treatments with patient goals, improving outcomes, and enhancing patient satisfaction and trust in their providers.
Our licensed naturopathic doctor and experienced functional medicine practitioner offers comprehensive functional medicine consultations in Meridian / Boise, Idaho. Free discovery calls are available!
