Clinical Rationale for MyCareQuestions®
MyCareQuestions® is built on a simple, evidence-supported principle: patients make better use of consultations when they are helped to prepare beforehand.
The aim is not to replace the consultant, give medical advice, or direct treatment choices. MyCareQuestions® helps patients organise what matters to them, prepare relevant questions, and arrive ready for a more focused shared decision-making conversation.
Published evidence and guidance support this approach.
A Cochrane/BMJ review of interventions delivered before consultations found that helping patients prepare to ask questions produced small increases in question-asking and patient satisfaction, with a possible reduction in anxiety. Importantly, written preparation materials showed similar effects on question-asking to patient coaching, supporting MCQ’s low-friction model of sending patients a preparation link before their appointment. (Cochrane)
Question prompt lists have also been studied in clinical settings. A 2021 systematic review in oncology found that question prompt lists can shift the topics discussed, help patients ask difficult or easily forgotten questions, and are often perceived as more useful than standard information sheets. The review also makes a useful point for MCQ: question prompts work best when integrated into the clinician-patient conversation, not left as a stand-alone leaflet. (ScienceDirect)
NICE’s shared decision-making guideline directly supports the MCQ model. It recommends offering people resources before discussions to help them think about what matters to them, what they hope will happen, and what questions they want to ask. NICE also recommends using appointment letters, websites and other materials to prompt patients to ask questions, and agreeing an agenda at the start of the consultation. (NICE)
There is also evidence that the patient’s agenda is often not fully elicited in routine care. A secondary analysis of recorded clinical encounters found that clinicians elicited the patient’s agenda in only 36% of encounters, and in only 20% of specialty-care encounters. This supports the need for a structured pre-consultation method that helps patients clarify priorities before they enter the room. (PubMed)
Finally, patient recall of medical information is often poor, particularly when patients are anxious. A widely cited review found that memory for medical information can be poor and inaccurate, especially in anxious patients, and that recall can be improved by using clear structure and written or visual support. This supports MCQ’s MyLife Summary and suggested-question output as practical tools patients can keep, revisit and bring to the consultation. (PubMed Central)
Taken together, the evidence does not suggest that a website alone transforms care. It suggests something more practical and more believable: patients benefit when they are helped to prepare, encouraged to ask questions, supported to express what matters to them, and given written structure before and after important clinical conversations. That is the clinical space MCQ occupies.
References
- Kinnersley et al. — “Interventions before consultations for helping patients address their information needs”
Supports pre-consultation preparation, question prompts, question-asking and patient satisfaction.
Link: Cochrane summary / PubMed (Cochrane) - NICE Guideline NG197 — “Shared decision making”
Supports giving patients resources before discussions, understanding what matters to them, risk communication and shared decisions.
Link: NICE NG197 recommendations (NICE) - Ospina et al. — “Eliciting the Patient’s Agenda”
Shows clinicians elicited the patient agenda in only 36% of recorded encounters, supporting structured preparation before consultation.
Link: PubMed / Full text PMC (PubMed) - Kessels — “Patients’ memory for medical information”
Supports the need for written structure because recall of medical information is often poor, especially when patients are anxious.
Link: PubMed / Full text PMC (PubMed) - Brandes et al. — “The characteristics and effectiveness of Question Prompt List interventions in oncology”
Supports question-prompt lists as a way to improve communication, psychological and cognitive outcomes.
Link: PubMed (PubMed)
