What is Shared Decision Making?

Shared Decision Making (SDM) is the process where health professionals and patients collaborate on medical decision-making with a more structured method that takes into account both the best evidence and patient values. The Shared Decision Making program is an additional resource that Service Specialists can offer to adults, and pediatric patients and their caregivers for assistance with medical decisions.

The decision coaching service is particularly innovative because it involves unbiased decision support by a decision coach from outside the patient’s circle of care, filling a unique gap that is present in models where only practitioners are directly involved in the decision coaching. For adults , children, and youth with neuromuscular disorders and their families, this innovative model becomes all the more valuable as there are many challenging medical and non-medical decisions that must be made over a patient’s health-care journey.

Background

Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC) and Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) entered into a partnership to offer a pilot project providing access to an innovative service that helped paediatric patients and their families make informed decisions throughout their care journey. The pilot project ran from May 1 2020 to March 31, 2021.

MDC SDM Services

The Shared Decision Making program works in collaboration with MDC’s Systems Navigation program. The Shared Decision Making service is an additional resource that the Service Specialists offer to adults, parents and caregivers for assistance with medical decisions.

How do I access this program?

Option 1: You can connect with your Service Specialist and they can assist you with the referral process.

Option 2: You can get a referral for this program directly from your healthcare providers. For referrals to this program, please visit: lhsc.on.ca/shared-decision-making.

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