Oncologie roept niet om keuzehulp

In recent times, the importance of shared decision-making (SDM) when making medical decisions has been emphasised. In general, SDM is seen as a consultative communication style, mainly used in reaching important, preference-sensitive decisions when multiple options are available, each with advantages and disadvantages. SDM is particularly advocated in palliative cancer treatments, as patients have different goals for treatment and different trade-offs for side effects. Decision-support tools might facilitate the process of SDM, but might also fill a needs’ gap only in a minority of patients. As cancer treatment increasingly becomes more personalised, cancer patients also deserve personalised guidance; sometimes this means sharing decision-making but sometimes paternalistic advice is actually required. It is questionable whether general decision-making tools will have significant impact on patient satisfaction in medical decision-making.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.