Shared Decision-Making With Patients and Families

Shared decision-making is a central component of patient-centered care in the emergency department (ED) and the intensive care unit (ICU). It is defined by the American College of Critical Care Medicine as “a collaborative process that allows patients, or their surrogates, and clinicians to make health care decisions together, taking into account the best scientific evidence available, as well as the patient’s values, goals, and preferences.” In this chapter, we will see that involving patients and/or family members in shared decision-making in the ED and the ICU can be a challenging task. We also describe strategies to help clinicians to better include patients and/or families in decision-making processes.