Doctors are attracted to formulaic questions and questionnaires like moths to a flame, as it lets them pretend to be doing a skilled job without actually having to do any work.

Can such things ever be valuable? Sure! But when a patient is getting bombarded with several impersonal depression screeners in a week, and then getting nagged when they balk at completing the superfluous ones for the umpteenth time, it's very clear that any emphasis on value has long left the building.

That reminds me of one good thing I have experienced along these lines. Whenever I take my wife in to the doctor, there is a point where the registrar, nurse, really anyone, pulls me away for a random reason.

The only point of that interaction is to get my wife alone and ask her if she is in danger and if she needs help. I wish I had some data to prove my feeling that this line of questioning must help vulnerable women escape abusive situations.