When Limited Clinical Time With Patients Meets Unlimited Online Information

As patients with cancer increasingly seek guidance from online sources, the patient-clinician relationship is at risk of being displaced by fragmented, often unreliable information. One of the primary drivers of this trend is the insufficient time available for in-depth, relational consultation with health care providers (HCPs). We argue that the current clinical routine, constrained by documentation and administrative demands, fails to allow adequate time for supporting the informational, emotional, and relational needs of patients navigating complex decisions. This shortfall undermines HCPs' ability to engage patients in shared decision-making and weakens the foundation of trust between patient and HCP. For some patients, this can result in selecting less-effective treatments or turning away from evidence-based care toward unproven online alternatives. While policy reforms to reduce administrative burdens and free up time for patient education and counseling are essential, they are slow to materialize, making immediate, actionable steps at the clinician level more urgent. We propose a set of practical, evidence-informed strategies that clinicians can adopt today to help meet patients' informational and emotional needs, strengthen patient-HCP relationships, and ensure that patients' health care decisions fit their preferences and are supported by scientific evidence.