# Recorded, AI-summarised consultations given to patients by default

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-recorded-consultations/  
OnCo record `idea-moon-recorded-consultations` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Every cancer consultation is recorded with consent and the patient receives the audio plus a checked written summary of what was said and decided.

## Summary

Patients recall a fraction of what is said in oncology consultations and recall worsens with anxiety and bad news. Studies of consultation recordings show improved recall and satisfaction with no harm to clinicians. Ambient AI scribes now produce draft summaries from audio. The proposal is that recording and a patient-facing summary (decisions, next steps, questions asked, plain glossary) become the default, with the clinician approving the summary and the patient able to share it with family.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: protocol-upgrade; upgrade:promising; evidence:moderate
- Hypothesis: Default recording and summaries improve recall of key facts at one week by at least 25% and reduce repeat calls, with no increase in complaints or litigation.
- Rationale: Recall failure is a format problem; audio and summary are cheap and already supported by scribe technology being adopted for clinician documentation.
- Proposed test: Randomised trial in two clinics: recording plus summary versus usual care; primary outcome recall of diagnosis, prognosis and plan at one week; secondary decisional conflict and satisfaction.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: engineering

## Notes

- Protocol upgrade, graded promising. The Cochrane review of 16 controlled trials with 2,318 adults with cancer found that 60 to 100 per cent of participants used their recording or summary at least once, five of nine studies reported better recall, three of ten reported greater satisfaction, and no study found an effect on anxiety or depression; the authors concluded that practitioners should consider offering recordings or written summaries. The AI-drafted summary in this proposal has no trial evidence in cancer care that OnCo found, and how often recordings are offered has not been measured.

## Sources

- Pitkethly et al., Recordings or summaries of consultations for people with cancer (Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008): https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001539.pub2
- Bottleneck evidence (Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency): Basch et al., Overall survival results of a trial assessing patient-reported outcomes for symptom monitoring during routine cancer treatment (JAMA 2017): https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.7156

## Connected records

- ideas: [Question prompt lists sent to patients before every major consultation](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-question-prompt-lists/)
- bottlenecks: [Knowledge reaches practice too slowly](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-knowledge-diffusion/), [Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-patient-voice/)

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