The paternalistic model of treatment decision-making, characterised by a care provider taking the active role in treatment decision-making and a passive and acquiescent patient, has been challenged in recent years in favour of alternative doctor-patient partnership models [ 1].
Shared decision making is characterised by the bilateral flow of information, between clinician and patient, with deliberation and decision making divided between the two parties.
The intuitive mode of decision making is characterised by heuristics—short-cuts, abbreviated ways of thinking, maxims, 'seen this many times before', ways of thinking.
SDM is commonly contrasted with the paternalistic approach to decision making which is characterised by the expression, 'doctor knows best'.
Becker's model of commodity demand is an instance of Gorman's (1959) general separability analysis where U is weakly separable in the arguments producing the, and the are homogeneous of degree 1. 11 Under homogeneous weak separability, consumer decision making can be characterised by a two stage budgeting process.
Thus, in a sea of floating signifiers, biomarker numbers may provide a reassuringly concrete buoy for patients to cling to, providing a sense of control and empowerment amidst the onslaught of information and decision making that now characterises the 'career' of the cancer patient (c.f. Aronowitz, 2009).
These data show that adrenal samples are acceptable for clinical decision making when they are characterised by Cadrenal/ Civc≥5.
Nevertheless, the study involved a large clinically relevant sample, this contrasts with many decision making studies which are often characterised by small, student samples.
Uncertainty and ambiguity characterising decision making in general practice may induce discomfort in the GP.
Compared to patients with AN, the cognitive profile of BED was characterised by poorer decision making and cognitive flexibility.
