Shared decision making: what do clinicians need to know and why should they bother?

To the Editor: The article by Hoffman and colleagues1 outlines the importance of fully involving people in decisions about their health care. There is an ethical imperative to ensure that both patients and the community obtain the best value possible from the resources that are used to provide health care. A low-technology intervention that can help meet the expectations for better value care should be warmly embraced. We now need to find practical ways to increase the use of shared decision making in routine practice.