Where do the Ask Share Know questions come from?
The Ask Share Know questions came from two sources. The Patient First Program (West Australian advocacy group) and the Smart Health Choices book. They prompt health professionals to give information people need to make an informed choice about test, treatment and care options.
In 2008 we talked about the Ask Share Know questions on ABC Radio National. A listener emailed the program to ask if the questions helped people to learn more about their health. So to find this out we we did a research study. GPs in Australia agreed to take part in this study for six months. We trained actors to be patients and to visit GPs with a health care problem. Some of the actors used the Ask Share Know questions, some did not. When the actors (as patients) asked the Ask Share Know questions, the GPs gave better information about treatment options. The questions helped the actors to share the decision about what treatment to start. You can read more about the research we have done here.
