PANEL: WHAT IS A "GOOD" MEDICAL DECISION? PERSPECTIVES FROM MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS: A SBM-SMDM CROSSTALK PANEL DISCUSSION

Stakeholders across multiple levels of healthcare delivery, including insurance companies, physicians, and patients, acknowledge that promoting informed and shared decision making are critical elements of patient-centered, evidence-based medicine. Yet, stakeholders’ perspectives of what constitutes a “good medical decision” likely vary in important ways, as each considers different priorities and metrics in their pursuit of optimal medical decision making. This issue is critically important for defining the ultimate goals of medical decision research and implementing evidence-based medical decision making practices. To explore this issue, the Society of Behavioral Medicine/Society for Medical Decision Making (SBM/SMDM) Crosstalk Committee will hold an interactive, cross-disciplinary symposium that will feature presentations from representatives of key stakeholder groups, including a physician, patient, decision scientist,  and medical anthropologist. These stakeholders will each provide an overview of his or her area’s primary considerations as they relate to informed and shared medical decision making. In addition, they will provide their perspectives on what is needed to achieve a “good” decision in response to a selected case scenario. The symposium will feature time for attendees to share their own impressions, and key commonalities and differences among stakeholders will be highlighted.