The importance of patient preferences in treatment decisions--challenges for doctors.

Health professionals are increasingly encouraged to involve patients in treatment decisions, recognising patients as experts with a unique knowledge of their own health and their preferences for treatments, health states, and outcomes. We conducted informal interviews with doctors from a range of specialties (general practice, orthopaedics, stroke medicine, accident and emergency, and vascular surgery) and recorded their opinions to provide a focus to this discussion. Medical uncertainty, deficiencies in individual doctors' knowledge, and the highly variable ability of patients to understand and remember clinical information mean that risk communication is often inadequate to support patients in making informed decisions. INSET: Patients' views of being involved in decision making.