What does SDM look like?

When you engage in SDM with your health care provider, you share your goals and preferences, and provide input on what you want your treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC) to look like. While your provider may be an expert in the area, you are the expert of how UC impacts you and what is most important to you.

What are the benefits of SDM?

  • Better understanding of UC and treatment

  • Increased satisfaction

  • Improved adherence to treatment

We choose therapies that are for mild disease, moderate disease, or severe disease, and we talk about what the risks and the benefits are. So, a lot of it is conversation. A lot of it is education. A lot of it is homework and then coming back and saying, “Okay. Here are some options. And why don’t you do a little bit of reading and come back and ask some questions? And we can decide together.” Christina Ha, MD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, CA

Listen to Dr. Bernasko discuss shared decision-making

For more information on SDM and communicating with your health care provider, visit these resources from AGA and The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation:

AGA Questions to ask my provider
Steps in shared decision making
Treatment approaches