292P - Shared decision-making at the cancer institute adult outpatient clinics of a tertiary hospital in the Philippines: A cross sectional study

Background

Shared decision making (SDM) is a dynamic clinical process where physicians and patients mutually and actively share information and collaborate to discuss available evidence during treatment decisions, and where patients are supported to consider options in order to achieve informed preferences. It has become a hallmark of patient-centered care and communication which highlights physician-patient relationship as the core in improving health outcomes, and refers to the type of care that is responsive to the individual needs and preferences of the patient, ensuring that clinical decisions are aligned with his or her values. In cancer care, preference-sensitive decisions range from screening decisions, to treatment decisions, and to end-of-life care. There is little experience with SDM in the Philippines and its integration into the practice of Oncology. The objective of this study was to explore patient perception and evaluate the extent to which a shared decision-making process is implemented in clinical encounters at the Cancer Institute adult outpatient clinics of the Philippine General Hospital.

Methods

The SDM Q-9 Filipino version was administered to 267 patients who were consulting at the adult outpatient clinics of the Cancer Institute over one month.

Results

More than 90% of the patients surveyed agreed that shared decision-making process were being practiced at the Cancer Institute adult outpatient clinics. Of these, almost half of the respondents answered “somewhat agreed” in all items, except for the domain which sought if the physician helped the patient to understand information which showed stronger trend towards agreement. Notably, the domains involving identification of preferences and shared decision showed weaker trend towards agreement, with 5% and 7% of patients surveyed disagreeing that these steps were being observed in practice, respectively. This indicated that among the nine items of the SDM Q-9, these areas required the most strengthening.

Conclusions

In this study, the investigators observed that cancer patients agreed that shared decision making was being practiced during their clinical encounters with their respective physicians.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.