What to take to a doctor’s appointment: a checklist you can print

A doctor’s appointment is short. In a busy clinic you may have ten minutes. What you bring and what you say in that time decides how much the doctor can do.

Here is a simple checklist. You can download it as a printable PDF, and it’s free.

Take with you

• Your current medicines. Bring the strips or bottles, or a list written from the prescription. If you take a medicine around meals, note when.
• Old prescriptions from this doctor and from others, especially for the same problem.
• Recent lab reports, scans and discharge summaries. The newest ones, and an older one for comparison.
• Readings since the last visit, such as blood pressure or sugar, with dates.
• Your insurance card and ID, if the clinic needs them.
• A note of what has changed since the last visit: new symptoms, missed doses, a change in routine.
• A charged phone and a pen.

If a family member goes with you, tell them where the papers are before you arrive.

Write your questions before you go

It’s easy to forget a question once you’re in the room. Write down three or four before you leave home. Put the most important one first.

Good questions are simple:

• What is the problem, in plain words?
• What should I do, and for how long?
• What should I watch for, and when should I come back or call?
• Do I need any tests, and when will the results come?

In the room

Say the main problem first, in a sentence. Doctors hear a lot of stories, and the first thing you say shapes the rest of the visit.

Write down what the doctor says, or ask a family member to. If you don’t understand a word, ask. “Can you say that more simply?” is a normal question.

Before you leave

Check that you understand each medicine: what it is for, when to take it, and for how long. Ask about tests and when results come. Note the date of the next appointment.

Then, before you walk out, photograph the new prescription and any reports. A photo taken in the clinic is a copy that can’t be left behind.

If you keep it on your phone

You can keep each person’s prescriptions and reports as photos on your phone, labelled with their name. Kinsu is an app for this: you add your family, save each paper, and search by name, doctor or tag. At the appointment you open the older report in a few taps. It keeps your records on your phone, encrypted, and doesn’t send them to your doctor or anyone else.

A printed checklist and a few photos are enough. The point is to arrive prepared.