Every Friday, I work at an Elderly Care clinic where we see patients with multiple medical conditions, a scroll of medications, and complex social, psychological and financial problems. Providing Geriatric care -  or holistic care in any specialty - involves looking into all aspects of a persons life that can and is affecting their health. That is a colossal amount of information to obtain, assimilate, and then provide meaningful management plans for in a short session. Take away the time spent before each consultation reading about their previous conditions, consultations, scans and blood tests, and the time after required to write up my notes….that leaves me with a fairly abysmal, highly pressured amount of time to actually talk to the person in front of me.

The average NHS GP has 10 minutes allocated for each patient consultation. In some EU countries, this can be as low as 6 minutes. Private consultations may offer longer consultations, but the question still arises: how can we make that time count? There must be a better way of doing things.

One tool gaining renewed attention is the digital clinical questionnaire - not just as an administrative aid, but as a means of delivering better patient care.

Questionnaires in Clinical Practice
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Clinical questionnaires have been around for a long time. From tools like the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 in mental health, to the STOP-BANG for sleep apnoea, structured forms provide a standardised, validated way to assess symptoms, track risk, and monitor response to treatment.

But their utility goes beyond diagnostics. In modern practice, digital questionnaires are now being used to:
- Gather comprehensive patient histories ahead of time.
- Collect patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).
- Support shared decision-making by capturing the patient’s own goals and concerns.
- Inform preventative strategies based on lifestyle, nutrition, and mental wellbeing.

Crucially, these tools can help clinicians move away from reactive care models and toward proactive, data-informed management.

The Growing Pains of Traditional Workflows

Traditional questionnaire workflows however, can be frustrating. Paper-based systems are still widespread, integration of patient inputs into clinical noting is haphazard, and in-consultation data collection wastes precious time. Questionnaire fatigue is also very real, for both patients and providers, particularly those offering highly personalised protocols.

Can we utilise these tools better?

Reimagining the Process: How Digital Tools Can Help

Tech-enabled questionnaire platforms can offer transformative value. When designed thoughtfully, they can:

1. Front-load consultations with comprehensive history-taking.
‍Pre-filled questionnaires give clinicians an idea of details of a patients problem (from their point of view), and importantly, what they would like from the consultation. This not only aids diagnosis, but also improves satisfaction by making the time spent with the patient more valuable. For some symptoms that are less…pleasant to talk about, such as bowel movements and consistency, having a questionnaire can reduce embarrassment and give patients the language to describe their experiences.

2. Standardise symptom tracking and lifestyle data collection.
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Particularly with functional, lifestyle, or integrative medicine, the consultation doesn’t end when the patient leaves the room. After the initial visit, clinicians often spend significant time crafting personalised care plans and arranging follow-ups. This process requires high-quality, structured information about the patient’s daily life, symptom patterns, and treatment responses - data that traditional consultations aren’t designed to capture efficiently. Digital tools provide a systematic way to collect and track this information.

3. Support remote monitoring, especially between appointments

Without needing daily consultations, digital tools allow patients to upload and track their health daily. This provides a pool of valuable information they may have been forgotten during a consultation, and enables the identification of trends.  For instance, a study of medical interns in the US found that mobile self-reporting of daily mood through a questionnaire improved the prediction of depression and suicide ideation. [1] Another example is the IBS-D Daily Symptom Diary and Event Log which has shown to be a reliable and effective tool at capturing patient-reported outcomes in IBS-D. [2] Caution should however be taken as at times, excessive tracking of symptoms can lead to increased anxiety and increased reporting of symptoms. [3]

4. Save time - reducing administrative burden and freeing clinicians to focus on clinical reasoning and communication

‍A study on patients with ovarian cancer found that those who completed structured pre-visit questionnaires felt more engaged, and clinicians were better able to focus on meaningful issues during the consultation. [4] Another study in Japan found that using tablet-based questionnaires before diabetic patient consultations saved time before the appointment and allowed for longer, more focused consultations. [5]

Final thoughts: From Burden to Opportunity

There is never enough time that could be had with a patient, and expectations from healthcare budget holders or investors are ever-growing.  Digital questionnaires should not be seen as another task - but as an opportunity. They offer a way to increase clinical insight, enhance efficiency, and build stronger relationships with patients.These smart tools aren’t here to replace clinicians, but to help free up our time to spend on the enjoyable part of our practice - caring and treating our patients.  For clinicians seeking to deliver truly holistic and preventative care, embracing these tools that work with, not against, clinical judgement is something to look into - no questions asked.
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About SANNO

SANNO is one such platform making these benefits tangible for clinicians working across primary care, gut health, women’s health, and more.

Clinics using SANNO are able to:
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- Send customised intake questionnaires ahead of appointments.
- Capture daily or weekly symptom tracking (e.g. stool form, bloating, fatigue, mood).
- Collect lifestyle data—nutrition, hydration, mental wellbeing, physical activity.
- View this data in a centralised, visual dashboard to inform decision-making.

For clinicians, this translates to:
- 20–30 minutes saved per consultation.
- At least two hours saved per patient when combining pre- and post-visit workflows.
- More personalised, data-informed treatment protocols.
Greater patient engagement and accountability.
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Written by Dr. Julia Craggs, May 2025.

References:
[1] Horwitz A, Czyz E, Al-Dajani N, Dempsey W, Zhao Z, Nahum-Shani I, Sen S. Utilizing daily mood diaries and wearable sensor data to predict depression and suicidal ideation among medical interns. J Affect Disord. 2022 Sep 15;313:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.06.064. Epub 2022 Jun 25. PMID: 35764227; PMCID: PMC10084890.

[2] Delgado-Herrera L, Lasch K, Zeiher B, Lembo AJ, Drossman DA, Banderas B, Rosa K, Lademacher C, Arbuckle R. Evaluation and performance of a newly developed patient-reported outcome instrument for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome in a clinical study population. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2017 Sep;10(9):673-687. doi: 10.1177/1756283X17726018. Epub 2017 Aug 24. PMID: 28932269; PMCID: PMC5598814.

[3] MacKrill K, Groom KM, Petrie KJ. The effect of symptom-tracking apps on symptom reporting. Br J Health Psychol. 2020 Nov;25(4):1074-1085. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12459. Epub 2020 Aug 13. PMID: 32790051.

[4] M.M. Frijstein, S.L. Hamers, W.J. van Driel, E.M.A. Bleiker, L. van der Kolk, R. Sijstermans, C.A.R. Lok, Effects of a pre-visit online information tool about genetic counselling for ovarian cancer patients, a randomized controlled trial, Patient Education and Counseling, Volume 113, 2023, 107786, ISSN 0738-3991, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.107786.

[5] Nishida A, Ogawa O. The Effect of a Pre-consultation Tablet-Based Questionnaire on Changes in Consultation Time for First-Visit Patients With Diabetes: A Single-Case Design Preliminary Study. Cureus. 2022 Nov 17;14(11):e31624. doi: 10.7759/cureus.31624. PMID: 36540534; PMCID: PMC9759614.