Checklist for a doctor visit with a chronic condition: before, during and after

For an appointment about a chronic condition you need four things: a medicine list, test results, readings and notes on your symptoms. Add one goal for the end of the visit. If you use Sam, your symptoms and the data from Apple Health are already a course you can look at.

This checklist is for routine follow-up visits, not for a first suspicion, and it fits a family doctor as well as a specialist. Everything is in the text. You need only a sheet of paper or a notes app. If you are preparing the visit for a parent, see preparing a doctor visit with a parent.

What three questions should I settle before the visit?

Visits are short. A review of 67 countries (Irving et al., BMJ Open 2017) found average primary care consultations ranging from under a minute to 22.5 minutes, with about 9 minutes for the UK. Three questions help you use the time:

1. What should be settled at the end? A prescription, a referral, a result or a decision about a test.
2. What has changed since the last visit? Better, the same or worse, ideally with a number.
3. What do I need from the practice? A repeat prescription, a certificate or a copy of a result.

The AHRQ in the US makes the same point with its "My Questions for This Visit" sheet: list the top three questions you want to be sure to ask.

Write the answers in three lines. Hand the sheet over at the start or read it out. Then the practice knows what you want before the clock runs.

What should I bring?

• Your insurance or ID details and, if you have one, the referral.
• A list of everything you take, including pharmacy products, vitamins and supplements. AHRQ says to tell your doctor about vitamins and herbal supplements when you need a prescription.
• Results and letters since your last visit: lab, imaging, hospital, rehab.
• Readings you take yourself, with date and time.
• Notes on symptoms, see below.
• Your questions, the most important first.
• Vaccination record and cards such as allergy or implant cards, if they fit the topic.

Keep your medicine list current. When your doctor changes something, update it the same day. Read it through before the visit, and if you take something differently from how it was prescribed, say so openly.

Know your own history too. The American Migraine Foundation, for one, advises bringing your personal and family medical history to a diagnostic visit and taking notes.

How do I get a copy of my records?

If something is missing, you can ask for it. The details depend on where you live.

• UK: UK GDPR gives you the right to access your records. The ICO says organisations usually have one month to respond. In England the NHS App can show test results, health conditions and documents from your GP surgery.
• US: the HIPAA right of access lets you see and get a copy of your health records. HealthIT.gov says in most cases your copies must be given to you within 30 days. The provider cannot charge for searching or retrieving, but you may pay for copying and mailing.
• Elsewhere: ask your practice how requests work in your country.

How to go about it:

• Write to the practice, by letter, email or through their online form.
• Name the period and content, for example "letters, lab results and scan reports since January 2024".
• Ask for a PDF or paper.
• Ask at least a week before the appointment, not the day before.

What does my data look like on one page?

At a routine visit the question is the course since last time. That is hard to say from memory, because most people do not know how often something happened in recent weeks.

A page of data is quicker to discuss than thirty screenshots. This belongs on it:

• The period, for example the last twelve weeks.
• The number of days with symptoms and days you could not do your usual things.
• Your two or three most important symptoms.
• Readings as a series: fourteen readings from one week say more than one from the waiting room.
• How often you needed rescue or as-needed medicine.
• What has changed.

In Sam you log symptoms in the symptom diary, sleep, resting heart rate and activity come from Apple Health, and you share the monthly report as a PDF.

Smartwatch values such as resting heart rate or sleep come from sensors on your wrist and do not replace a measurement at the practice. Apple states that Vitals app measurements are not intended for medical use. Take them as a supplement, not as proof.

How do I describe symptoms: since when, how often, how strong?

Instead of "I am often tired", say: "Since mid-August I have been so exhausted on four days a week that I cannot do anything after work. Before it was one or two days." That is two sentences, and they name the period and the frequency.

An entry in your symptom record needs only seven fields:

• Date and time.
• What you felt.
• Strength on a scale you always use the same way, such as mild, moderate, strong.
• How long it lasted.
• The situation: rest, effort, after eating, stress.
• Whether you took as-needed medicine.
• Whether the day was lost.

Write it down the same day, not afterwards. If you do not feel taken seriously, what documentation really changes may help.

What is different at a first visit with a cardiologist or neurologist?

A specialist practice often knows your history only in part at the first visit. It asks about onset, course, triggers and earlier conditions, so bring more history than to your family doctor.

For a cardiologist:

• Earlier ECG results and reports from hospital, procedures or rehab.
• Your home blood pressure readings with date and time, for example from the last one to two weeks. Ask the practice which period they want.
• Heart disease in your family.
• A note on when symptoms happened: at rest or during effort, and for how long.

For a neurologist:

• Reports and images from MRI or CT.
• All your medicines, including painkillers, and on how many days a month you take them.
• Notes on seizures, headaches or dizziness with date, duration and situation.
• A person who saw a seizure or blackout. They can describe it when you do not remember. Epilepsy Action also suggests bringing a video if you have one.

For headaches see migraine diagnosis: what now, and for readings see blood pressure log: print or app.

What do I do during the conversation?

Hand over your sheet at the start and name your goal in one sentence. Take notes, or ask a companion to, and tell the practice beforehand if you bring someone.

AHRQ advises asking questions until you understand what the doctor tells you, and asking for written instructions. If a test is planned, ask how it is done, how to prepare and how you get the results.

At the end ask:

• What is the next step, and when does it happen?
• What should I note until the next visit?
• Does anything change in my medicines, and will my list be updated?
• What do I do if things get worse between visits?
• When should I come back?

Finish by saying in your own words: "I understood that ..." If something is off, you often notice while you are still in the room.

This text does not replace emergency help. In a life-threatening situation call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US).

What do I note after the visit?

Write down the same day what was discussed. Details fade fast.

• What was decided: a test, a referral, a prescription.
• Which medicines are new or changed, and whether your list was updated.
• The next appointment and what to do until then.
• Open questions for next time.
• Results still to come, and who sends them.

AHRQ advises calling the office for test results and asking what to do about them. If a specialist reported to your family doctor, ask for a copy of the letter. Then file your page with the date. At the next visit you have something to compare with.

Note symptoms in Sam and take the course to your appointment

You arrive with a course instead of gaps in memory, and the practice sees on one page what has changed since last time.

• Instead of paper or a notes app: you log symptoms in the symptom diary, and Sam adds sleep, pulse and activity from Apple Health. You enter only what you know yourself.
• Instead of memory: in programs with a medicine plan you tick off when you took your medicine and see the intake in the course.
• Instead of screenshots: the monthly report can be shared as a PDF.
• Instead of loose sheets: results and letters sit in the Health Vault.

Sam does not replace a conversation with your doctor.

Try Sam Health

Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or health state. Always consult qualified professionals for medical decisions.

Sources

Updated: October 2026

• AHRQ: Be more engaged in your healthcare: before, during and after your appointment
• Irving G et al.: International variations in primary care physician consultation time. BMJ Open 2017;7(10):e017902
• ICO: Getting copies of your information (subject access request)
• HealthIT.gov: Your health information rights
• NHS: NHS App help and support
• American Migraine Foundation: Migraine diagnosis and treatment
• Epilepsy Action: Diagnosis and Keeping a seizure diary
• Apple Support: Track overnight and daytime vitals with Apple Watch
• Your Europe: Emergencies, the single European emergency number 112
• CDC: About heart attack, call 9-1-1 in the US