Shared Decision Making: Community of Practice
The Shared Decision Making Community of Practice has been established to provide a practical resource and learning hub for Victorian health services who are implementing shared decision making in health care settings. On this Community of Practice you will find:
The Shared Decision Making Pilot Project
SDM is one of the key domains of Safer Care Victoria’s Partnering in Healthcare framework. The framework is closely aligned with Standard 2 of the Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHS): Partnering with Consumers. According to the Partnering in Healthcare framework, SDM is described as the process by which informed health decisions are made by consumers (patients and their carers or family members) and health professionals using best available evidence and discussion of preferences.
An SDM Pilot Project was established in November 2019 to support Victorian health services implement SDM. Eight Victorian public health services were competitively selected to pilot the development, testing and implementing of decision guides/aids in 2020. The pilot project is funded by Safer Care Victoria and implemented in partnership with the Centre for Health Communication and Participation (CHCP). Professor Dawn Stacey, University of Ottawa, is internationally recognised for her work in SDM and is co-author of the Cochrane decision aids review. Professor Stacey is working with CHCP to share her expertise and knowledge to support the pilot sites to develop SDM processes and decision guides/aids for use in their services.
You can read the final report from the pilot project here.
Why implement shared decision making?
- Accumulation of evidence indicates that SDM increases the likelihood that patients, carers and family members who participate in the process will report higher levels of understanding of the decision, reduced decision regret and have a positive healthcare experience.
- Validated practical measurement tools are available.
- Validated guides to support shared decision making are available.
- There are international standards to support health services to develop quality decision aids.
- In Australia, Standard 2 of the National Safety and Quality for Health Service Standards require health services to demonstrate how patients (or with family members and carers) are able to participate or share in decisions relating to their care.
- The Safer Care Victoria Partnering in Healthcare Framework identifies shared decision making as a priority domain in strengthening relationships with consumers.
Project Team
- Ms Nami Nelson, Project Manager
- Professor Dawn Stacey, international expert from University of Ottawa
- Adjunct Professor Sophie Hill, Project Lead