Whether you are going to your primary care for a check-up or finally seeing a long awaited specialist for some answers, you want to make sure you are getting the most out of your time with your provider.
Being prepared for your appointment can not only allow you to make the most of your appointment, but by being prepared it can also help ease any anxiousness you may have going into the meeting. By preparing properly, it will also make it easier to remember to cover everything you wanted so you don’t end up leaving having forgotten to talk about the main reason you went in the first place.
With a little preparation before-hand, you can look forward to an easy, productive visit that will serve you and your doctor!
Hopefully, this list will help prepare you for your next visit and make it run as smoothly as possible!
1 – Make A List Of Everything You Want To Talk About/Important Points
This is important because once you get in the office, you may forget what you wanted to say or ask (even if you don’t think you will)
Here is a sample format that you can use:
- Goal(s) for this appointment
- Symptom(s) I have
- Concern(s) I want addressed
- Question(s) I want answered
- Numbers for the doctor – this may involve things like bringing your glucose monitor, or a log of when/how often you use your inhaler etc.
- Research – any that you think you might want to bring up.
2 – Have Someone Go With You
It’s good to have support!
Ask your significant other, friend or family member you trust to go with you to your appointment. Not only can that person help be an emotional support, help advocate and take notes, but their presence with you in the office can be more validating with the doctor seeing that someone vouches for your symptoms. It can also be a deterrent for some doctors to not speak over or dismiss the patient.
3 – Bring All Of Your Medical Records
Have them organized and printed
It’s helpful to have all past medical records printed and organized on hand. You never know when you will need it! Even if your records *should* all be on your file, count on them not being there and bring it just in case!
4 – Practice What You Want To Say
Include your support person so they can help support you!
By practicing what you want to say before you go in to your appointment you may be able to think of things you also want to include, or things you realize need to be worded a certain way. Practicing in front of a support person on the way to your appointment can be super helpful as it helps you practice and helps your support person to understand what you are trying to say and what you are hoping to get out of the appointment. This helps the support person know when and how they can support what you are saying if the doctor doesn’t seem to be on the same page etc.
5 – Double Check The Basics
We highly recommend double checking the time, date and location of the appointment prior to leaving. This is just to ensure you go to the right place, at the right time and on the right date which of course sounds obvious, but juggling the many appointments you probably are, it’s easy to get things mixed up so we recommend always double checking!
Make sure you also have enough gas to get there and back as well as any money/credit cards you may need for bridges or parking.
Also, depending on your type of insurance you may want to double check that you are approved through your insurance to go to the appointment just to ensure it will be properly covered.
6 – Pack What You Need To Bring To Your Appointment
You want to do this ahead of time so you don’t forget anything important! You can check out our list via our blog post: What To Take To Your Doctor Appointment for a full list of items to pack and bring to your appointment!
7 – Plan To Leave Early
Count on traffic being bad so leave with plenty of time to spare just in case!
Conclusion
This list is only the top 7 things we recommend doing before your appointment, but you may find that adding things to it such as researching the doctor beforehand may be helpful to you too! If you have a chronic condition or are undiagnosed, then going to the doctor will become a regular thing for you and you will find what works for you and what doesn’t. Hopefully this list will help you get started with the basics as you continue to figure out what works best for you!
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