Making ten minutes with a doctor count
Walk into a short appointment with three questions and walk out knowing what happens next.
Three questions, ranked, written down before you go.
Ten minutes disappears quickly. If you arrive with a vague worry, the visit shapes itself around paperwork. If you arrive with a ranked list, it shapes itself around you.
Write your top concern first, in one plain sentence, with when it started and what makes it better or worse. Then two more. Three is realistic. Seven is not.
Send the list through the portal a day ahead if your office allows it. Many clinicians read messages before you walk in, and it saves minutes you would spend explaining.
Before you leave, ask the closing question out loud: what happens next, and what would make me call you sooner. Then check the after visit summary in the portal that evening while it is fresh.
Key points
- Three ranked concerns, written before you go.
- One plain sentence each, with when it started.
- Send them through the portal a day ahead.
- Ask what happens next before standing up.
- Read the after visit summary that same evening.
What to remember
- A message sent the day before buys you minutes in the room.
- Ranking your concerns before you go is most of the preparation.
- Ask for the plan out loud, then confirm it in the after visit summary.
Try this
Before your next appointment, write your three concerns on one card, most important first, and put the card in your wallet today.
Practice: Making ten minutes with a doctor count. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.