OnCo
ideasIdea

Recorded, AI-summarised consultations given to patients by default

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

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.

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.
What would test it
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
Who has to act
engineering
Cost to try
Small (under $1M)
Years to first evidence
1
Bottlenecks it attacks

Connected

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