This post is part of a series where I elaborate on questions I was asked after my keynote in the 13th International Shared Decision Making (ISDM) Conference, hosted at Dartmouth College, USA, July 7, 2026 to July 10, 2026. From the conference website: “With the 2026 theme, ‘A Wider Lens,’ this year’s conference will bring together clinicians, researchers, patients, and policy leaders to expand our understanding of shared decision-making across specialties, care settings, and systems.” You can find links to my recorded keynote and to the other posts in the series at the end of this post.

The question I was asked:

“A question as a clinician: how could we elicit that knowledge from patients during a consultation? Have you thought about any question that, as a patient, you would like to receive?”

This is a really great question, because it demonstrates both understanding of what I was trying to convey in my presentation, and genuine curiosity for how to push the field forward. It is also a question that I have never been asked before (which actually doesn’t happen very often), which makes me extra happy that it was asked. I had to think for a few minutes but this is my reply:

A few questions that I would love to be asked when I am seeking help from healthcare:

• “What have you noticed about your condition that surprised you?”
• “What have you tried on your own, and what happened?”
• “Is there a pattern in your days or weeks we haven’t talked about?”
• Also, specifically about patients searching for information online: Instead of reacting defensively, you can acknowledge and even welcome these inputs by asking “Have you looked this up online?” or “Have you used any tools to explore this?” (see also this article that I coauthored in The Lancet Primary Care (LINK)

The key is asking about process and observation, not just symptoms. And honestly, it’s less about finding the perfect question and more about signaling genuine curiosity and making time to actually hear the answer.

Here are links to the other posts in this series:

• My recorded keynote for ISDM2026
• “How can we trust patients’ knowledge when there are anti-vaxxers and science deniers?”
• “What’s your opinion on healthcare delivered patient education?”
• “Who takes responsibility if the new way of taking pills harms other patients?”
• “Is epistemic injustice equally distributed, or stratified?”
• “How could we elicit Chronic Knowledge during a consultation? What question would you want to be asked?”
• “Is shared decision making ready to see the blue dots?”