Barry MJ, Edgman-Levitan S. Shared decision-making–—pinnacle of patient-centered care. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:780–781.
Renal Physicians Association. Shared Decision-Making in the Appropriate Initiation of and Withdrawal from Dialysis, 2nd Ed., Rockville, MD, Renal Physicians Association, 2010.
Cohen LM, et al.. Predicting six-month mortality in patients maintained with hemodialysis. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2010; 5:72–79.
Couchoud C, et al.. Supportive care: time to change our prognostic tools and their use in CKD. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2016; 11:1892–1901.
Christakis NA. Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Davison SN. End-of-life care preferences and needs: perceptions of patients with chronic kidney disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2010; 5:195–204.
Wachterman MW, et al.. Relationship between the prognostic expectations of seriously ill patients undergoing hemodialysis and their nephrologists. JAMA Intern Med 2013; 173:1206–1214.
Manns B, et al.. Setting research priorities for patients on or nearing dialysis. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2014; 9:1813–1821.
A foremost goal of American medicine for the 21st century to improve the quality of health care is individualized, patient-centered care. The recommended means to achieve this care is shared decision-making, a conversation process in which the physician communicates information to the patient about diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options and the patient communicates to the physician about his or her history, values, and treatment preferences. Together, the two share responsibility in reaching a common understanding of the patient’s preferred treatment course. This process has been called “the pinnacle of patient-centered care” (
For patients