HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues
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The ethical standard for informed consent is fostered within a shared decision-making (SDM) process. SDM has become a recognized and needed approach in health care decision-making. Based on an ethical foundation, the approach fosters the active engagement of patients, where the clinician presents evidence-based treatment information and options and openly elicits the patient's values and preferences. ⋯ The rural context creates challenges as well as fosters opportunities for the application of SDM as a natural dynamic within the rural provider-patient relationship. To fulfill the ethical requirements of informed consent through SDM, it is necessary to understand its inherent challenges and opportunities. Therefore, rural clinicians and ethicists need to be cognizant of the impact of the rural setting on SDM and use the insights as an opportunity to achieve SDM.