Surprise Question
Surprise Question - Related Videos
07:59
Memory Development: Demonstrating How Repeated Questioning Leads to False Memories
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2023
Source: Laboratories of Judith Danovitch and Nicholaus Noles—University of Louisville A person is defined as a unique individual based on the people and events they encounter in their lives. Thus, creating, storing, and recalling memories are essential elements of the human experience. However, memory, as adults experience it, takes time to develop. Although young children can learn facts and remember details of their lives from moment-to-moment and day-to-day, they do not create...
01:52
Regression Toward the Mean
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2020
Regression toward the mean (“RTM”) is a phenomenon in which extremely high or low values—for example, and individual’s blood pressure at a particular moment—appear closer to a group’s average upon remeasuring. Although this statistical peculiarity is the result of random error and chance, it has been problematic across various medical, scientific, financial and psychological applications. In particular, RTM, if not taken into account, can interfere when researchers try to extrapolate results...
13:37
Language: The N400 in Semantic Incongruity
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2023
Source: Laboratories of Sarah I. Gimbel and Jonas T. Kaplan— University of Southern California Understanding language is one of the most complex cognitive tasks that humans are capable of. Given the incredible amount of possible choices when combining individual words to form meaning in sentences, it is crucial that the brain is able to identify when words form coherent combinations and when an anomaly appears that undermines meaning. Extensive research has shown that certain scalp-recorded...
05:28
Incidental Encoding
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2023
Source: Laboratory of Jonathan Flombaum—Johns Hopkins University Long-term memory is a critical feature of human cognition, and it has been a prominent focus of research in experimental psychology. Many paradigms designed to tap long-term memory rely on asking participants to learn or study content, then test memory about that content. This is a good approach if one wants to understand how memory supports educational achievement, for example, where explicit study is part of the process. But,...
04:35
Enzyme Activity - Concepts
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2019
Biological Catalysts All living organisms continuously perform numerous biochemical reactions to sustain their presence. Most of these reactions require an input of energy to start, which is called the activation energy. Catalysts are chemicals that lower the activation energy. Even though catalysts facilitate a chemical reaction, they are not consumed by it. This means a catalyst can facilitate a specific chemical reaction over and over in succession, increasing the rate of that reaction.
FAQs
The clinician interprets the patient’s course as a whole, asking whether the pattern suggests increasing vulnerability rather than reacting to an isolated measurement. Functional decline and frailty show changes in everyday reserve, while comorbidities and recent health-care use add context about illness burden. Together, these observations support a more informed clinical prompt.
Unlike a single laboratory value, the response integrates several aspects of the patient’s course, including functional decline, frailty, comorbidities, and recent health-care use. It also differs from a formal prediction model because it records an overall clinical judgment. This broader view can reveal a need for supportive attention without claiming numerical precision.
It flags a possible need for closer support, but it cannot determine an individual patient’s prognosis. The response should therefore lead to individualized clinical evaluation, not an automatic conclusion about survival or treatment. This distinction protects against treating a broad clinical judgment as if it were a precise prediction model.
After a “no” response, the next step is not to assign a fixed prognosis. Clinicians may undertake a comprehensive assessment, examine the patient’s goals and treatment preferences, and discuss advance care planning. Depending on what that evaluation reveals, referral to palliative care may be appropriate. The sequence converts a brief prompt into individualized supportive decision-making.
A no response can open a structured discussion about what matters to the patient before further decisions are made. Clinicians can review goals, treatment preferences, and the need for advance care planning, then consider whether additional supportive services are appropriate. Its value lies in promoting timely, patient-centered conversations rather than directing one predetermined treatment.
Because the tool is based on clinical judgment, different clinicians may not view the same illness trajectory identically. That makes follow-up evaluation important when the response raises concern. The Surprise Question can organize attention toward supportive care and shared decisions, but it should remain one part of clinical reasoning and cannot substitute for assessing the individual patient’s circumstances.