2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19)

Shared Decisions presents evidence-based information in an easy-to-understand format, to add clarity to complex healthcare topics so patients can participate in their healthcare decisions.

Personal Risk Decisions

Longer days and sunny weather in March suggest springtime is near, increasing our desire to see life return to a more normal pattern. Simple activities like going to a movie,…

Pregnant Women and Vaccine Protection

Concern and confusion swirls around vaccines. This is especially true for women who are pregnant. Fear of harming an unborn child can become a barrier to taking a vaccine, even…

Living with Reality: What We Can Learn from Nurses

Spring is approaching and the desire to rid our communities of this viral scourge is strong. We long to “return to normal” but our country is still riddled with COVID,…

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Additional Information Related To COVID-19

When the Lights Go Out

Imagine being stuck in a shopping mall when the lights go out. It’s a complete and unwelcome surprise. Your spacial awareness is hampered in an unfamiliar location. Moving around is…

Trick or Treat: A Vaccine at Your Door?

Halloween supplies are already on shelves and fall is upon us. There’s brand new information out too, suggesting vaccines are around the corner and the US will have a magical…

Going into Battle Without a Plan

History provides examples of governments proceeding to war with little idea of the outcome – and they’re not good. WWI took 53,402 American soldiers in trench warfare. The war, as…

Do Deaths Matter? Apparently Not So Much

COVID combined with social media and government confusion seems to have dulled the senses of many Americans. News organizations are always polling people’s opinions on various topics and now they…

Schools, Confusion, Frustration and the Unknowns

Student will be headed back to school in person soon in other countries, but not America. This country continues to have uncontrolled spread of the virus in over a dozen…

USA Map: COVID Uncontrolled Spread

Tracking Our COVID-19 Response It’s mid-August and 18 states have uncontrolled spread of COVID. It sounds alarming but should we be worried about uncontrolled spread? Let’s use a wildfire analogy…

Hurricane Season and COVID

As the US enters hurricane season within a pandemic, it seems like a good time to reflect on how nature can surprise and disrupt our lives and the point at…

Airline Websites and Opening Schools

Schools COVID 19 is not going away, but summer is soon to be over. So how many K-12 students will walk into a school building? This is a wrenching decision…

Remembering Galileo during COVID

Science is a funny thing: The more you know the more you need to know. Findings from studies often raise more questions to be considered. Many of us have faced…

COVID Summer Reads

Good books and summer go together. So how about a great read that looks back in time to see how people confronted pandemics in the past? It’s interesting to see…

WW I, Masks & Money

America’s infection rate is on an upward trajectory. On July 17th there were 70,000 new infections reported. That number could easily double in the next 5-10 days as these 70,000…

Mystery of Pregnancy and COVID-19

Unknowns increase worry for many of us, but unknowns for science are mysteries to be solved. In mid-summer 2020 one of the mysteries of this virus, COVID-19, is how it…

Back to School?

Let’s Talk About Children Seven Months into the Pandemic As we near the mid-point of summer and community discussions about schools opening are heightened by the political posture surrounding the…

No Big Deal: How We Can Fight COVID with the Tools We Have On Hand

There is a dangerous attitude in America right now. Media outlets and social media have been parroting words from the President that COVID 19 is basically “harmless” for most people.…

Announcing our Newest Series: Harmless… Like a Wildfire!

Healthcare Shared Decisions is extending our focus on COVID19 with a new series of posts that support you in making your own decisions related to risk. Using a wildfire to…

Opening Up in the House of Mirrors

Americans have entered a phase II reopening from COVID 19 with little clarity or consistency. The country is opening at varying rates across the states with the goal of getting…

COVID-19: The New Impact on Children

Summer is arriving, and with it the hope that the virus will decrease during the warmer months. The season is usually a time of exploration and outside fun, especially for…

Is This 1918 All Over Again?

When Influenza surfaced in the spring of 1918, it was fresh on the heels of a respiratory disease epidemic lasted from 1915 until 1917. Was the outbreak in 1918 caused…

Opening Up: Now What?

In the US we have a patchwork of what it means to transition from “stay at home” orders to “safer at home.” These guidelines are implemented differently in each state,…

2020 is a Key Moment for Evidence Based Care

Shared Decisions advocates for evidence-based care and patients who prepare to participate in decision-making about their health by actively seeking accurate, science-based information. Why is evidence-based care more important today…

Testing and More Testing: Does it matter?

Today the US has almost 900,000 confirmed (this word is key) cases of CoVid 19. Below is the April 24, 2020 graph from Johns Hopkins Corona Virus Resource center. This…

What is Shared Decision-Making in Healthcare?

Terminology such as shared decision-making may seem unfathomable during a pandemic. Our normal approach to healthcare has disappeared. Arranging an appointment for dental cleaning, a mammogram, or visit to orthopedic…

Managing Daily Life; Why Has the Joy Gone?

Remember when the morning alarm clock signaled the start of a new day? On awakening you may have been excited about an upcoming trip to see old friends at the…

Sick at Home

There is a bit of good news for those mildly sick with COVID 19; most people recover within two weeks. Data on recovery lags behind the daily totals and rarely…

Infection-Fighting Super Powers Within Us All

Disorders of our body’s immune system are frustratingly complex and affect the lives of more than 20 million Americans. Finalizing a diagnosis with the range of symptoms that are possible…

Healing Messages from Around the World

This new zoonotic disease, CoV-2, is challenging our global supply chains, dramatically affecting the financial markets, fueling rapid-paced research, and stressing our healthcare professionals to the limits in many areas.…

To Mask or Not to Mask? Guidance to Keep Fear Away

COVID-19 is on a global rampage and the US is no exception. The uncertainty and daily reports of deaths is driving an Infodemic which feeds fear. How do we protect…

Kitchens, Boxes and Water Bottles: How long can a virus survive on common surfaces?

Just the Facts The staying power of COVID-19 on daily-use items has raised many questions about how long viruses can live outside of our bodies. This blog uses current evidence,…

The Danger of Rhetoric and Half Truths: And what you CAN do now to get the right information and protect your community

Social media and the press are providing a mind-numbing amount of text. Notice I did not say information.Social media is taking partial facts and adding text that is not evidence-based,…

New Invader, Old Drugs

Corona viruses have awakened the world to the increase in Zoonotic diseases. In 2002 it was SARS that leapt onto the global stage infecting 8000 people leading to death in…

Physical Therapy Rx for Self-Isolation and “Stay at Home Orders”

Many Americans are now adjusting to a narrowed lifestyle as the country strives to slow the spread of COVID-19. It’s not an easy adjustment, even for people who remain employed…

The Nano-Sized Invader: Corona Virus

If you weren’t familiar with the Corona virus before, you know it now. Let’s do a round up of facts we know about this invader. This nano-sized virus is nimble,…

A Virus on the Move

Visit our dedicated COVID-19 information page Media coverage on viruses, like the flu or the novel corona virus (Covid-19), is only helpful to a point. When you become concerned for…