How to use Living Algorithms in 30 seconds (before clinic)
- May 5
- 3 min read
Open a Living Algorithm, search for your patient scenario, follow the pathway and expand the key steps for details on dosing, side effects and rationale.
In less than a minute, you can go from question to decision at the point of care.
The reality before every clinic
Before you see a patient, there’s a familiar time pressure. You may have 45-60 minutes to:
Review the case
Understand prior treatments
Decide on next steps
Prepare for the conversation
You don't have time to:
Open multiple tabs
Search through long documents
Piece together information
You need something fast.
The goal of Living Algorithms
Living Algorithms are designed for this exact moment.
Not for deep research.
Not for long reading sessions.
But for: quick, decision-ready answers before you walk into the room
A simple way to use Living Algorithms
Here's how most clinicians use it in practice:
Step 1: Search your patient scenario
Start with what you know:
Disease type
Stage
Biomarker
Prior therapy
For example:
"EGFR-positive lung cancer after progression"
"HR+ HER2-negative breast cancer second line"
This gets you to the right pathway immediately.
Step 2: Confirm you're in the right place
At the top of the algorithm, you’ll see:
Disease definition
Key subtype or biomarker
Author and last update
This helps you quickly answer: "does this match my patient?"
Step 3: Follow the pathway
Move through the algorithm step by step. You'll see:
First line, second line, and beyond
Decision points based on patient factors
Clear treatment options
No need to jump between pages.
Step 4: Expand the key steps
Click into any step to see more detail:
Why this treatment is recommended
Key trial data
Side effects to watch for
Dosing and adjustments
This is where you move from overview → action.
Step 5: Make your decision
By this point, you should have:
A clear treatment direction
The key risks and tradeoffs
The practical details you need
Now you're ready for:
The patient conversation
Orders and documentation
Next steps
What makes this faster
Living Algorithms bring everything into one place. Instead of:
Guidelines for pathways
Another source for dosing
Another for toxicity
Another for monitoring
You can see it all in a single workflow.
Designed for how clinicians actually think
This approach works because it mirrors real clinical reasoning:
Define the patient
Identify the scenario
Narrow the options
Confirm the details
Act
You're not adapting to the tool, the tool adapts to you.
When to use it
Living Algorithms are most useful when:
You're preparing before clinic
You're seeing a second or third line case
You're less familiar with a disease
You want to quickly confirm your plan
What it's not meant for
It's not designed for:
Deep literature review
Writing academic papers
Exhaustive data exploration
It's designed for real decisions, in real time.
From minutes to seconds
Without a structured tool, preparing for a case might involve:
Searching guidelines
Reviewing studies
Checking dosing
Confirming side effects
That can take several minutes or more.
With Living Algorithms, the goal is simple: Get to a confident decision in under 30 seconds.
Bottom line
Clinicians don't need more information before clinic, they need faster access to the right information. Living Algorithms are built to help you:
Find your scenario quickly
Understand your options
Act with confidence
All in the time it takes to prepare for your next patient.
Try it before your next consult
Before your next clinic, take one patient scenario and walk through it. See how quickly you can go from:
Question → pathway → decision
This is where the difference becomes clear.