Shared treatment decision making in a collectively funded health care system: possible conflicts and some potential solutions

In recent years there has been a growth in the advocacy of shared decision making (SDM) between clinicians and patients as a way of practicing medicine. Although there is a range of perspectives on what SDM means, in essence it refers to greater involvement of the individual patient in deliberations about appropriate forms of clinical management. The patient's perception of the role of the doctor in SDM is crucial: for it to work successfully, …