Information Needs Expressed During Patient-Oriented Oncology Consultations: Quantity, Variation, and Barriers

High-quality oncology consultation includes patient-oriented communication tailored to patients’ individualized needs. Common methods used in studies to increase question-asking are prompt lists and coaching pre-consultations. However, our patients were encouraged to ask questions by the physician during their visit. We aimed to estimate the quantity, nature, and variation of their questions when they were invited to ask by their oncologist. During radiotherapy consultations from 2012 to 2016, patient’s questions were deliberately elicited and physician-transcribed. We derived mean and median number of questions per patient, variance by patient factors, and a taxonomy of subjects using thematic analysis. Three hundred ninety-six patients asked 2386 questions, median asked per patient = 6 (interquartile range = 4). We found significant variance with age (mean = 6.9 questions for < 60 years, 5.4 for ≥ 70 years) p = 0.018, insurance type (mean = 4.7 for Medicaid, 7.2 for private insurance) p = 0.0004, and tumor site (mean number of questions: skin = 4.6, lymphoma = 5.2, lung = 5.8, breast = 6.1, prostate = 6.3, rectum = 6.7 head and neck = 6.9, brain = 7.0, bladder = 7.2, anus = 8.8, others = 5.8) p = 0.0440. Of the diverse set of 57 topics, the commonest were 1. logistics, 2. radiotherapy details, 3. side effects, 4. diagnosis, and 5. stage and prognosis. Only 17 topics were asked by more > 10% of patients and 40 topics were asked by < 10% of patients. With median of 6 questions, it is practicable to routinely elicit and address individualized information needs. Potential barriers may be older and underinsured patients. The wide variety of topics, often pertaining to individuals’ case, suggests that cancer clinicians should take time-out during consultation to elicit patients’ questions to accomplish best-practice communication.