The use of shared decision making tools in research and clinical care for patients with low back disorders
Proposed by: Steve Atlas, Colin Nelson, and Jon Lurie

Shared decision making seeks to help patients understand their options and increase participation in decision making, rather than delegating decisions to their providers. A growing body of research suggests improved outcomes among well informed patients who participate in deciding how they are going to manage their health conditions. Workshop goals include:

1. Summarize existing research examining the role of shared decision making on outcomes of patients with low back pain and to provide an interactive forum to discuss research opportunities;
2. Describe current efforts to implement shared decision making in clinical practice using case examples from workshop participants; and
3. Discuss development of decision quality measurement tools for low back disorders and engage in a feedback session of a draft instrument.

This workshop will be of interest to conference attendees who have implemented shared decision making in clinical care, have performed research studies, or are interested in learning more about such activities. Pre-workshop activities will include email contact of workshop participants to collect their shared decision making experiences and then distribute them in advance. During the workshop, attendees will learn about research and clinical opportunities in shared decision making and will participate in evaluating a draft decision quality instrument.

Ancillary Materials

SDM workshop decision quality survey

SDM workshop provider use survey

workshop email final

12/01/08