The importance of patient autonomy is increasing in current complex medical environment as well as the promotion of patient-centered care. One key aspect of patient-centered care is to encourage patients to actively participate in medical decision-making in order to improve the quality and sat-isfaction of care. Since 2016, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan has promoted shared decision-making (SDM), aimed at facilitating patient participation in medical decision-making and enhancing doctor-patient relationships for medical quality and patient safety. Since then, SDM has been widely applied in clinical practice. However, rural and elderly patients have significant deviations from urban residents in their health-seeking habits, preferences, values and access to medical informa-tion. The traditional concept of “doctor” as sole decision maker is deeply rooted in rural and elderly patients’ mind, and their willingness to participate in SDM and how to promote it are worth exploring. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to discuss from nurse practitioners’ point of view of about the chal-lenges and factors that influence the experiences of the implementation of SDM in rural hospitals. The results of this synthesis will contribute to proper implementation of SDM in low health literacy areas in the future.