Person-Centered Decision Making Lesson

Even within cultures, each person is unique, and their preferences may not predictably adhere to their culture of origin or the culture they have adopted. Approaching the clinician-patient relationship as a partnership can help you to avoid assumptions and to understand each person’s unique values, beliefs, and preferences for their clinical care (11).

People bring three pre-existing perspectives to the clinical decision making process (10):

1. Information
2. Expectations
3. Preferences

Providers can find out more about people’s perspectives by eliciting concerns, ideas, and expectations. This is the heart of person-centered care. Conversations to discover common ground should be intentional, explicit, and ongoing.

The key features of a healthy partnership are that everyone:

• Accepts mutual responsibilities
• Acknowledges that all partners have something to contribute and gain
• Pays attention to, and explicitly discusses, the relationship
• Allows the relationship to be dynamic and adapt to changing circumstances
• Understands that relationships and trust take time to develop, especially within the context of ways in which particular communities in the U.S. have been further marginalized through their contact with the U.S. healthcare system.