Person-Centered Decision Making Lesson

To help people understand the risks and benefits of healthcare options in the context of their own lives, priorities, and values, you will have to learn how to present statistical concepts like "absolute vs relative risk" and consider ethical concepts like autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Click on the following link from the National Safety Council to learn how to place the absolute risk of dying within the context of familiar life activities.  

NSC Risk visualization

Here is some advice from the published literature for providers who are engaged in risk conversations with people. If you want to explore this topic further you can read the articles in the Learn More section.

Summary of recommendations for communication about risk (14)

1. Use plain language to make written and verbal materials more understandable.

2. Present data using absolute risks.

3. Present information in pictographs if you are going to include graphs.

4. Present data using frequencies.

5. Use an incremental risk format to highlight how treatment changes risks from preexisting baseline levels.

6. Be aware that the order in which risks and benefits are presented can affect risk perceptions.

7. Consider using summary tables that include all of the risks and benefits for each treatment option.

8. Recognize that comparative risk information (eg, what the average person’s risk is) is persuasive and not just informative.

9. Consider presenting only the information that is most critical to the patients’ decision making, even at the expense of completeness.

10. Repeatedly draw patients’ attention to the time interval over which a risk occurs.