ideasIdea
Question prompt lists sent to patients before every major consultation
Before a results or treatment-planning appointment, patients receive a list of good questions to ask, tailored to their situation, and can tick the ones they want covered.
Question prompt lists increase question-asking in randomised studies, particularly when clinicians endorse them. Portals can deliver tailored lists (stage, treatment intent, trial availability) automatically before scheduled visits, with the selected questions visible to the clinician. This is a cheap, scalable implementation of a proven tool that mostly fails through lack of delivery.
Hypothesis
Automated tailored prompt lists increase the number of patient questions and the discussion of prognosis and trials, and reduce decisional conflict, without lengthening consultations by more than two minutes.
Rationale
The barrier is delivery, not evidence; visit scheduling systems know exactly when the list is needed.
What would test it
Portal-level A/B test across an oncology network measuring questions asked (audio-coded sample), decisional conflict and consultation length.
Maturity
being tested at scale
Who has to act
clinic
Cost to try
Small (under $1M)
Years to first evidence
1
Bottlenecks it attacks
- Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency · Most patients cannot understand their options, find trials, or push back, so decisions are made for them.