Delivering patient-centered care through shared decision making in overactive bladder

Abstract

Introduction: Men and women living with overactive bladder (OAB) face many treatment decisions as they progress through the treatment pathway. Decisions to pursue specific therapies are highly preference sensitive and ideal for shared decision making (SDM). The aim of this narrative review is to provide urologists with a practical summary of methods to elicit preferences and facilitate SDM to promote patient-centered care for OAB.

Methods: We explore OAB as a preference sensitive condition through a review of treatment outcomes and present available data on prediction tools, patient preferences, and decision aids. We propose a paradigm for applying Everyday SDM to OAB care.

Results: Clinical outcome data points to equipoise (balanced outcomes) between options for first-, second-, and third-line OAB therapies, making OAB preference sensitive and appropriate for SDM. Methods to personalize care through individualized outcome prediction calculators and tools to elicit patient preferences are emerging. While patient information about OAB is readily available, we identified few OAB decision aids that facilitate patient preference elicitation and SDM.

Conclusions: OAB is a preference sensitive condition, where treatment is largely based on the patient's preferences and values. SDM is an ideal approach to supporting patients through these treatment decisions. We propose the application of Everyday SDM, a personalized, clinically efficient methodology as a method to support patient-centered OAB care.

Keywords: discrete choice experiments; overactive bladder care; patient-centered care; patient-provider communication; preference elicitation; preference-sensitive condition; shared decision making.