The Paradigm Lens By Steven Kahn

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The Paradigm Lens by Steven Kahn

Informed consent has long been the cornerstone of medical ethics. Nevertheless, the traditional model of doctor-patient communication has often failed to adequately incorporate patients’ values and preferences into treatment decisions. In ” The Paradigm Lens: Informed Consent to Shared Decision-Making,” author and medical ethicist Steven Kahn explores the evolution of informed consent and the growing importance of shared decision-making in modern healthcare.Drawing on his experience and research from philosophy, behavioral economics, ethics consulting, and as a nurse, the author illustrates the challenges confronting the informed consent process to protect patient rights. Through a series of thought-provoking cases and analyses, he illustrates the problems of implementing a patient-centered approach to healthcare. The strategy is to look at what is behind these interactions. We navigate our way through the encounter by using unwritten guidelines, expectations, goals, and beliefs. These elements together form the background through which our experience is filtered. This is the paradigm lens. It is not typically well defined, but it is understood through cultural norms. Kahn moves these background elements that form the paradigm to the foreground of the investigation. This strategy illuminates the roles of the physician and patient more clearly and provides guideposts to accelerate the research in shared decision-making. The Paradigm Lens is an essential read for healthcare professionals, patients, policymakers, and students. It challenges us to rethink our assumptions about what it means to truly engage in health care decisions by all parties.