Shared Decision-Making and Patient-Centred Care - From Paternalism to Partnership in Medicine Part II: Risk Communication, Conflicts of Interests, Effects of Patient Participation

In the first part of this two-parts series the concept of shared decision making was described as the most advenced of the patient-centred concepts of physician-patient-communication. Physicians' attitudes tend to be somewhat reticent thoug; even those physicians who support patient involvement do not feel sufficiently prepared to fulfil the new role that the concept assigns to them. In the second part the relevance of risk communication for the explanation of the pros and cons of the treatment options is highlighted as well as the erosion of the medical knowledge base through industry-dominated knowledge production and the impact of shared decision making on the treatment choices and treatment results.