Centre for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research

The Centre for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research (CSDM) at Oslo University Hospital is a research facility conducting research into patient participation and supporting technology and methods.

Our core activities consist of research combined with innovation, with the overall goal to improve illness management and prevention through support for patient self-management and patient-centered collaborative care. CSDM has gained considerable experience in developing, implementing and testing user-centered electronic support systems that strengthen patients' self-management skills. These tools improve patient-provider communication and patient-centered collaborative care and have proven to be highly effective in improving health outcomes.

The potential benefits to healthcare and the community are considerable. The tools made by the centre contribute to more targeted and coordinated treatment. They help to reduce doctor's visits and hospitalizations by allowing for better and more individually tailored follow-ups. Patient knowledge is also improved, leading to a faster recovery, fewer sick days and thus a reduced need for health and social services. The systematic employment of such tools by the health system will allow Norwegian health policy to realize some of its most important goals.

In reviewing these tools, the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority has recommended their implementation as the most innovative solutions available today.

The Centre also collaborates with a considerable number of national and international research institutions.

All of the tools were developed at the Centre for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research. Read more at http://www.communicaretools.org/.