What to bring to a parent’s doctor appointment

What to bring

Most of this fits in one folder. The point isn’t to be exhaustive — it’s that nobody should be reconstructing a medication dose from memory while a doctor waits.

• Photo ID and insurance cards Including any secondary insurance or prescription drug plan card.
• A current medication list Every prescription, plus over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and supplements. This is the item most worth preparing in advance.
• Allergies and past reactions Name the drug and what actually happened — “rash” and “anaphylaxis” get treated very differently.
• A list of their other doctors Names, specialties and phone numbers. Specialists often don’t share records automatically.
• Recent test results and imaging Anything from a different practice or hospital system, which likely won’t appear in this doctor’s chart.
• A short symptom log When it started, how often, what makes it better or worse. Dates beat adjectives — “three times since 12 August” is more useful than “lately.”
• Photos of anything visible Rashes, swelling and bruising rarely cooperate by showing up on the day of the appointment.
• Your written questions Ordered most important first. You will not get to all of them.
• Something to take notes with Ask before recording — some practices allow it, some don’t.
• Advance directive or healthcare proxy paperwork If it exists and this office doesn’t already have a copy.
• Glasses, hearing aids and mobility aids A parent who can’t hear the doctor can’t consent to anything, and cognitive assessments go badly wrong without them.
• Water, a snack, and a wait plan Particularly if they’re diabetic, or the appointment is near a mealtime.

The medication list is the part you can’t improvise

You will be asked for it at every appointment, every pharmacy visit, and on every hospital admission — and the version in the chart is very often out of date, because it only updates when someone tells it to.

A usable entry has six things:

1. Drug name, brand and generic
2. Strength and dose — “20 mg, one tablet”
3. How often, and at what time of day
4. What it’s for
5. Who prescribed it
6. When they started taking it

Include the things people forget to call medication: vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies, eye drops, inhalers, patches, creams, and anything taken only as needed. Those are exactly the ones that cause interactions, because nobody thinks to mention them.

We have a blank medication list template you can print and fill in.

Questions worth asking

Lead with the two or three that matter most. If a new diagnosis, test or prescription comes up, these are the ones that consistently change what happens next.

• What is this test or treatment meant to tell us or do?
• What happens if we wait, or do nothing at all?
• What are the side effects, and which ones mean we should call you?
• How will we know whether it’s working, and by when?
• Does this interact with anything else on the list, including the supplements?
• Should any of their current medications now stop?
• Which of their other doctors needs to know about this?
• What’s the follow-up, and who books it?
• Who do we call after hours, and what counts as an emergency?

What to write down before you leave the room

Memory for medical instructions is poor even when you’re not worried, and you are worried. Capture these five while the doctor is still in front of you.

• The diagnosis or finding, spelled out Ask them to spell it. You’ll want to look it up later.
• Every medication change — started, stopped, or dose adjusted Including which existing pills to stop taking, and when.
• Tests ordered, where they happen, and who calls with results
• The next appointment: with whom, and roughly when
• The exact phone number to use if something changes

If you take one thing away: read the medication changes back out loud before you leave. “So he stops the water pill, keeps the blood pressure one, and starts this at half a tablet for a week.” That thirty-second read-back catches more errors than anything else on this page.

If you’re not the patient

Being someone’s child does not give you the right to their medical information. In the US, a clinician generally can’t share details with you unless your parent has authorized it. Sort this out on a calm day rather than in an emergency room:

• A HIPAA authorization form at each practice, naming you as someone they may talk to. Every office keeps its own — signing one at the cardiologist does nothing at the GP.
• A healthcare proxy or medical power of attorney, which lets you make decisions if your parent can’t. Different from financial power of attorney, and usually a separate document.
• Access to their patient portal, ideally as a proxy account in your own name rather than by sharing their password — shared logins get revoked and lock you out at the worst moment.

Afterwards, while it’s fresh

• Fill and collect any new prescriptions, and check the dose on the label
• Update the medication list with everything that changed
• Book the follow-up before you forget it existed
• Tell whoever else is involved — siblings, a home aide, the other parent
• Note anything you meant to ask and ran out of time for

To print this checklist: press ⌘ P on a Mac or Ctrl P on Windows. The navigation and links are stripped out automatically, so what comes out is just the checklist.

Or carry it on your phone

FAMHLTH keeps this in one place for each family member — medications, conditions, allergies, appointments and photos — and exports the whole thing as a summary you can hand over in the waiting room. It’s free, there are no ads or subscriptions, and the data never leaves your device.

FAMHLTH publishes these guides as organizational tools for caregivers. They are not medical advice, and they don’t replace the instructions of your care team — always follow what your clinicians tell you.