Assessing shared decision making during antenatal consultations regarding extreme prematurity.

Objective: To assess whether antenatal decisions regarding the neonatal care at birth for extremely preterm infants are more likely to be made when using shared decision-making (SDM)-style consultations compared to standard consultations.
Study Design: In 2015, we implemented a clinical practice guideline promoting SDM use within antenatal consultations in our single-centre university-based perinatal unit. We conducted a prospective cohort study with a retrospective chart review based on data collected from all pregnant women presenting to obstetrical triage between 22 + 0 and 25 + 6 weeks gestation between September 2015 and June 2018.
Result: Two-hundred-and-seventeen cases presented; 137 received antenatal consultations with 82 (60%) being SDM-style. Decisions were frequently made (88%; 120/137) after the consultations, with no significant difference between consultation style (RR 1.08, 95% CI [0.95-1.26], p = 0.28).
Conclusion: The provision of either an SDM-style or a standard antenatal consultation seemed to comparably facilitate the reaching of a care decision.
(© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.)