{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-question-prompt-lists","kind":"idea","name":"Question prompt lists sent to patients before every major consultation","aka":[],"tldr":"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.","summary":"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.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Han et al., Effectiveness of question prompt list interventions for patients with cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs 2025)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apjon.2025.100765"},{"label":"Wang et al., Question prompt list intervention for patients with advanced cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis (Support Care Cancer 2024)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-024-08432-3"},{"label":"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)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.7156"}],"tags":["protocol-upgrade","upgrade:promising","evidence:moderate"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["randomised-trial"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-patient-voice"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Protocol upgrade, graded promising. A 2025 meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials in people with cancer found question prompt lists increased the number of questions asked and engagement in shared decision-making, and lists given with instructions did better than lists alone (Han, 2025). In advanced cancer, seven trials with 1,059 participants showed more questions asked but no improvement in anxiety, quality of life or end-of-life outcomes (Wang, 2024). Adoption has not been measured."],"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.","test":"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","actor":"clinic","cost":"small","horizonYears":1},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-question-prompt-lists/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"randomised-trial","kind":"term","name":"Randomised trial","route":"/terms/randomised-trial/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-patient-voice","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency","route":"/bottlenecks/b-patient-voice/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-moon-recorded-consultations","kind":"idea","name":"Recorded, AI-summarised consultations given to patients by default","route":"/ideas/idea-moon-recorded-consultations/"}]}}