Visualisation of evidence for shared decision making

Why does it matter? Consistent with the principles of evidence-based medicine, effectively communicating evidence (including risks) in medicine is an essential part of shared decision making (SDM). SDM has been defined as ‘an approach where clinicians and patients share the best available evidence when faced with the task of making decisions, and where patients are supported to consider options, to achieve informed preferences’.1 This process relies on access and understanding of evidence-based information by both patients and healthcare professionals. This includes outcome probabilities, typically presented numerically. Yet, a considerable fraction of the population is confronted with limited numeracy. Numeracy is defined as the ability to understand, use and interpret numbers and calculations in everyday situations.2 This difficulty processing numbers is a significant barrier to effective communication in healthcare and SDM. How can visualisation of evidence help? Many studies demonstrate the potential of...
Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: EBM learning Source Type: research