Patient Preferences and Decision Making
Discussion on Patient-Centered Care and Decision Aid
In the course of my clinical practicum, I met a patient with Type 2 Diabetes who was having difficulty complying with her treatment regimen. She was a single mother who resided in a low-income community with limited transportation and access to healthy food sources. First, the care team only pursued biomedical interventions, i.e., prescribed metformin and advised diet changes. Still, it did not consider her values, preferences, or SDOH that influenced her daily life. This resulted in the patient missing follow-ups and complaining of the inability to control her blood sugar levels, which is why she visits the emergency room often.
As soon as we included her preferences and values in the care plan, the trend changed considerably. She had a great wish to control her condition naturally and underlined her position as a caregiver, which restricted her time and resources. By considering these factors, we created a more realistic plan that incorporated the resources within the community, including a local food pantry with diabetic-friendly foods and a mobile clinic to get routine check-ups. We also presented culturally affirmative education resources that would appeal to her way of life and beliefs. This patient-centered philosophy enhanced her engagement and stabilized her glycemic control in the long term, proving how significant the incorporation of SDOH and personal values into clinical reasoning can be (Artiga & Hinton, 2018).
We applied the Ottawa Personal Decision Guide (OPDG) to facilitate shared decision-making. This patient decision aid helps people define their values and compare the advantages and disadvantages of various treatment options. The OPDG helped us have practical discussions regarding her aspirations and concerns and made her take an active part in her treatment. Overall, decision aids such as the OPDG improve communication, decrease decisional conflict, and increase informed decisions that correspond with patients’ lived experiences (Stacey et al., 2017).
In my professional practice, I will employ decision aid inventories like the OPDG to promote collaborative care, particularly in an environment where patients present with complicated psychosocial problems. Such tools also come in handy in my personal life, when I make health decisions with my family members, to ensure that the decisions are made using not only evidence but also individual values. Finally, decision aids can be part of an ethical, patient-centered practice, making the therapeutic alliance more robust.
References
Artiga, S., & Hinton, E. (2018). Beyond health care: The role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org
Stacey, D., Légaré, F., Lewis, K., Barry, M. J., Bennett, C. L., Eden, K. B., … & Trevena, L. (2017). Decision aids are available for people facing health treatment or screening decisions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001431.pub5
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER
Instructions
1-Post a brief description of the situation you experienced and explain how incorporating or not incorporating patient preferences, social determinants of health, and values impacted the outcome of their treatment plan. Be specific and provide examples.
2-Then, explain how including patient preferences, social determinants of health, and values might impact the trajectory of the situation and how these were reflected in the treatment plan.
3-Finally, explain the value of the patient decision aid you selected and how it might contribute to effective decision making, both in general and in the experience you described.
4-Describe how you might use this decision aid inventory in your professional practice or personal life.