Shared decision making in ante- & postnatal care – focus on communication skills training

In recent years political focus has increasingly been on patient involvement in decisions in healthcare. One challenge in implementing the principles of shared decision making is to develop suitable communication practice in the clinical encounters between patients and healthcare providers.
A project where a group of midwives and nurses worked together in a serial of workshops training communication skills suitable for involving women in decisions in ante- and postnatal care was conducted in 2015. Communication skills training involved group analysis of videos of real consultations and a variety of roleplays and rehearsals of communication situations.
Besides training communication skills the project aimed at documenting institutional practices obstructive to the purpose of sharing decisions.