Shared decision-making is increasingly recognised as an important part of person-centred healthcare. It brings patients and healthcare professionals together to make decisions that reflect both the best available evidence and what matters to the individual patient.
But an important question remains: how do we know whether shared decision-making interventions actually make a difference?
A newly published international study protocol in BMJ Open addresses this challenge through the development of a Core Outcome Set for Shared Decision-Making interventions (COS-SDM).
Across research into shared decision-making, different studies may measure different outcomes. This makes it difficult to compare findings, combine evidence and understand which interventions genuinely improve the experience and quality of healthcare.
A Core Outcome Set aims to address this by establishing an agreed minimum set of outcomes that should be measured and reported consistently. But deciding what belongs in such a set raises another important question: who decides what outcomes matter?
This is where meaningful patient and public involvement becomes essential.
The COS-SDM initiative brings together an international group of researchers, healthcare professionals and people representing patient and public perspectives. Through a structured consensus process, including Delphi surveys, different stakeholder perspectives will contribute to identifying and prioritising the outcomes considered most important when evaluating shared decision-making interventions.
For PiCC United, being part of this work reflects an important principle: patients should not only be asked about their experiences after healthcare interventions have been designed. Their perspectives should also help shape how we define success in the first place.
An outcome that appears important from a research or clinical perspective may not necessarily capture what matters most in a patient’s everyday life. Equally, patients may identify changes or consequences that are less visible within traditional clinical measures.
Bringing these perspectives together can therefore strengthen not only patient involvement, but also the relevance of the evidence we generate.
Developing a Core Outcome Set is ultimately about creating greater consistency in research. Yet it is also about something more fundamental: ensuring that when we say an intervention works, the outcomes used to reach that conclusion reflect what matters to the people healthcare is intended to serve.
The COS-SDM study protocol has now been published in BMJ Open, marking an important step in this international collaboration.
Read the publication:
Development of a core outcome set for evaluating shared decision-making interventions: study protocol
BMJ Open: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/9/e116623
About PiCC United
PiCC United is an international patient-led non-profit foundation working to advance meaningful patient and public involvement across healthcare, clinical research and policy.
PiCC United web: https://pccunited.org
