International collaboration in shared decision-making: The International Shared Decision Making (ISDM) conference history and prospects

ObjectiveAnalyze the role of collaboration in the International Shared Decision Making organization (ISDM).MethodsCase study of the seven year history of ISDM as a professional network.ResultsThe International Shared Decision Making meeting Conference (ISDM) has held four biennial meetings since its inception in 2001. It is a freestanding professional meeting, with no permanent institutional support and no formal governance structure. In both its history and its prospects, collaboration among attendees has been pivotal to its growth. It both attracts and holds its “members” through the strength of the relationships formed during and between meetings. Exchanges in ISDM are informational, collegial, and indirectly economic.ConclusionISDM's future rests on keeping all three functions healthy. It must maintain a focus on putting the shared decision making work first through becoming a “worknet”. Technologies that promote shared decision making can then be assembled and developed that support transformation of health care.Practice ImplicationsInnovative professional organizations need to develop their work through deliberate development of networking techniques to move innovation into practice.