• quality of health care
• education, medical

The idea of shared decision-making has been increasingly socialised in clinical, research, policy and patient advocacy communities in an effort to shift the culture of healthcare from clinician-driven to patient-centred.1 A shared decision-making approach is a collaborative process between patients and healthcare providers whereby they work together to achieve a health decision that is based on the best evidence and the consideration of patients’ needs, values and preferences.2 It is about changing the conversation, opening the door to hear from patients about matters most to them given their options for treatment, and achieving a high-quality decision that results in good clinical outcomes and patients’ experience of care.3

But is shared decision-making simply a lofty goal, a nice thing to do, or the latest new language of the documentation of consent? Or can it be an intervention implemented in clinical care that results in important, measurable and improved outcomes? In a systematic review of randomised controlled studies that examined the effectiveness of shared decision-making interventions in cardiology, Mitropoulo et al 4 identified 18 studies in various cardiac care areas, including atrial fibrillation and anticoagulation, chest pain and coronary artery disease, cardiac devices and pacemakers, and advanced treatment …