Shared decision making for cardiovascular conditions.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Shared decision making between patients with high blood pressure and / or heart failure and their healthcare professionals: What are the experiences of patients and clinicians and how can shared decision making be supported?
IRAS ID
194874
Contact name
Rachel Johnson
Contact email
Research summary
Shared decision making, where patients and health professionals both contribute to the decision making around treatment of a health condition, is considered essential for good clinical care but is difficult to achieve. Most patients wish to be more involved in healthcare decisions. This research aims to understand experiences of decision making and how best to implement shared decision making for adults in primary care with one or both of two common problems: high blood pressure and heart failure. These have been chosen because they are likely to be experienced very differently by patients; this will help to illustrate the range of experiences relevant to involvement in decision making. For example, patients with high blood pressure will typically be younger and have less symptoms related to their blood pressure, whereas those with heart failure will typically be older with more health problems and may experience more symptoms related to their condition. We will follow patients over the course of 3-6 consultations with health professionals. Adult patients with one or both conditions will be identified through general practices and their care in both general practice and in hospital settings will be followed. We will interview them, observe and audio-record their consultations and review their medical notes to identify current practice and opportunities for improvement. We will also interview their health professionals. These data will be combined to inform the development of an intervention that will aim to help patients and health care professionals to successfully share decisions within consultations.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0294
Date of REC Opinion
22 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion