The Potential of Shared Decision Making to Reduce Health Disparities
Current methods of obtaining an informed consent leave much to be desired. Patients rarely read consent forms or understand all of the risks, benefits, or alternatives associated with their treatment. Evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of treatment options often presents a more significant challenge for patients with lower levels of health literacy.
This article reviews the evidence of shortcomings in our informed consent system and then explores the potential for a new approach to engage patients at all levels of health literacy in their treatment decisions. Specifically, the article will examine the potential of shared decision-making (SDM) to bridge gaps in knowledge, increase patient adherence to treatment, and improve health outcomes in low health literacy patient populations. Leveling barriers to treatment information for disadvantaged populations should be a public health imperative, especially if it can be shown to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Preface: Connecting Public Health Law, Practice, Policy, and Research
- 1. Lawyers, Guns, and Money
- 2. Making the Case for Laws that Improve Health
- 3. What Gets Measured, Gets Changed
- 4. Health in All Policies
- 5. The Potential of Shared Decision Making to Reduce Health Disparities
- 6. Environmental Public Health Law
- 7. State Boards of Health
- 8. Policy Issues in American Indian Health Governance
- 9. Global Public Health Legal Responses to H1N1
- 10. Public Health Preparedness Laws and Policies
- 11. Protecting the Mental Health of First Responders
- 12. Five Legal Preparedness Challenges for Responding to Future Public Health Emergencies
- 13. Implementing Health Reform at the State Level
- 14. Meaningful Use and Certification of Health Information Technology
- 15. Right to Health Litigation and HIV/AIDS Policy
- 16. The Role of Federal Preemption in Injury Prevention Litigation
- 17. Regulating Food Retail for Obesity Prevention
- 18. Pursuing Health Equity
- 19. The Michigan BioTrust for Health
- 20. Becoming the Standard