Updated International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS version 5.0): modified Delphi, evidence informed consensus process

Patient decision aids (PDAs) are evidence informed tools designed to support patients in the process of making decisions about their health. The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration last updated the standards in 2013 and the evidence about patient decision aids has expanded substantially. In this article, we report on an update to IPDAS that used a modified Delphi process with two rounds of voting to reach consensus on evidence informed changes to the criteria. The 202 participants were from 26 countries, and included patients/consumers, policy makers, researchers, and clinician researchers. IPDAS 5.0 includes seven qualifying criteria (necessary to be a patient decision aid), 10 essential criteria (necessary to reduce biased decisions), and 54 enhancing criteria (additional criteria that might improve the quality of a patient decision aid). The updated standards reflect the IPDAS Collaboration’s founding goal of providing high quality patient decision aids for patients that minimise potential biases in the decisions made about potential healthcare options.

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Publication Details

Journal
BMJ
Published
2026-06-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2025-088116
Primary Topic
Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Updated International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS version 5.0): modified Delphi, evidence informed consensus process

Rachel Thompson, Maureen Smith, Hilary Bekker, Meg Carley et al.
BMJ
Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
article

Updated International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS version 5.0): modified Delphi, evidence informed consensus process

Rachel Thompson, Maureen Smith, Hilary Bekker, Meg Carley, Lyndal Trevena, Dawn Stacey, Martin Härter, Michael J. Barry, Karina Dahl Steffensen, Trudy van der Weijden, Krystina B. Lewis, Karen Sepucha, Holly O. Witteman, Robert J. Volk, Tammy Hoffmann, Kirsten McCaffery, Michael Pignone
article en

Abstract

Patient decision aids (PDAs) are evidence informed tools designed to support patients in the process of making decisions about their health. The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration last updated the standards in 2013 and the evidence about patient decision aids has expanded substantially. In this article, we report on an update to IPDAS that used a modified Delphi process with two rounds of voting to reach consensus on evidence informed changes to the criteria. The 202 participants were from 26 countries, and included patients/consumers, policy makers, researchers, and clinician researchers. IPDAS 5.0 includes seven qualifying criteria (necessary to be a patient decision aid), 10 essential criteria (necessary to reduce biased decisions), and 54 enhancing criteria (additional criteria that might improve the quality of a patient decision aid). The updated standards reflect the IPDAS Collaboration’s founding goal of providing high quality patient decision aids for patients that minimise potential biases in the decisions made about potential healthcare options.

BMJVol. 393
Bond University (AU), The University of Sydney (AU), University of Leeds (GB), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US), Harvard University (US), University of Ottawa (CA), Universität Hamburg (DE), Duke University (US), Ottawa Hospital (CA), Maastricht University (NL), Massachusetts General Hospital (US), Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CA), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE), Decision Sciences (United States) (US), Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CA), Lillebaelt Hospital (DK), Université Laval (CA), Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (CA), Aalborg University (DK)
National Institutes of Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Cancer Institute
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
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