Some of us are engaged in research that aims to help patients, providers, and decision makers make good decisions in maternity care. With patients, this means helping them make choices that are informed by best clinical evidence, personal values, and in the context of available resources. In a recent blog by Healthy Debate, “Decision aids: why hasn’t this proven, patient-centred practice caught on?”, the authors discuss the role of decision aids in helping patients make more informed decisions about their care. My thesis explores decision-making for vaginal birth after caesarean, so the questions posed in the article are of great relevance and interest to me.

Decision aids have been developed in maternity care for a range of preference-sensitive decisions, from choice of epidural, to prenatal genetic screening, to external cephalic version for breech presentation. While these tools have been shown to increase knowledge and help patients gain clarity about what matters to them, they have not been widely implemented. The article provides a good overview of why there has been limited uptake of decision aids.