Give Them Time: 3 Tips for Using Time with Patients to Aid Shared Decision Making

According to research, time is a scarce, but vital, element of shared decision making for both patients and clinicians. The importance of time was also demonstrated in an investigation by Arwen Pieterse, PhD, and in her work conducted at the department of biomedical data sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands.¹

In a recent article in JAMA, Dr. Pieterse and colleagues say uncertain evidence and a patient’s unique healthcare issues can make it challenging to identify the best course of care—especially as people live longer with multiple chronic conditions.² Added to this challenge is the fact that a lack of time is consistently identified by both physicians and patients as the most common barrier to shared decision making.^3,4

A Closer Look at Time with Patients
As a first step toward a different way of thinking about time spent with patients, Dr. Pieterse suggests rheumatologists think critically about their time invested in clinical activities and patient encounters.

“Use time if, and when, it is helpful,” she says. Dr. Pieterse suggests rheumatologists take three step to be more strategic with clinical time:

1. During a patient visit, discuss how often they really need to come to the office for follow-up visits and what lab testing is appropriate to inform healthcare-related decision making. Try not to make clinic visits and lab testing into a routine that doesn’t add to the patient’s health and wellbeing;
2. Before a patient consultation, consider what management options best fit the patient’s situation and the relevant information to discuss about the benefits, harms and procedures related to their options; and
3. Make it a habit to give patients time before making a decision. It can be valuable to allow the information to sink in for the patient, enabling their preferences to emerge. Many healthcare decisions are new, even for patients with chronic conditions. Their condition may worsen or improve, or the patient may suddenly have become intolerant to a treatment they’ve been on for a while. When such new situations emerge, they require a renewed consideration of the patient’s priorities, goals and preferences. More time by itself can be helpful for this clarification process.

Give Patients Time to Think
Although she isn’t aware of practices in which the schedule of the clinician does not determine the time available for a patient, Dr. Pieterse points to ongoing studies in the Netherlands in which a timeout is offered to patients during or in between clinical encounters. The time-out aims to provide patients with time between becoming informed of their options and making a decision.