So you are scheduled for an appointment to see a clinician. Maybe it is a doctor or nurse practitioner; your primary care provider or a specialist; a visit to someone new or someone you have seen countless times before. Regardless of the circumstances, here are some tips to make the most of your visit:

1. Make a list of your concerns. Even if you coming in for a “physical” or other type of wellness visit, make a list of any additional concerns. Maybe you have something on your skin you want checked. Or some fleeting chest pain that you want to make sure is nothing serious. Or there is something worrisome going on that you want to discuss. Write it down beforehand so you don’t forget. Paper and pencil are ok, but putting it on your smartphone is a better idea to make sure that you bring it in with you at the visit.
2. Share your list early in the visit. Don’t wait until the doctor is about to leave to bring up issues. Even if they are embarrassing things to talk about. Set an agenda at the start. But keep it short – no more than 3 things is a good rule of thumb given that clinicians are seeing patients every 15 minutes or so and you want to make sure that they have enough time to properly address your concerns. And let the clinician know whether each item is something that you want evaluated and treated or just for informational purposes.
3. Bring in a list of your medications, including supplements and over the counter products. If you take anything on a regular basis you should let us know. You might think that the herbal supplement you started taking to improve your memory is nothing to worry about – but it might interact with something you are prescribed, or even causing the symptoms that are on your list. Don’t assume that your clinician will specifically ask about supplements and over the counter remedies. Although I mean to do so, often I forget.
4. Discover about your family history. This is particularly important when you come in for a preventive care focused visit, but the information may be helpful in other circumstances as well. Try to know the specifics as much as possible (e.g. “a heart problem” vs. “coronary artery bypass surgery at age 55”) without sweating the finer details. It doesn’t matter much (to the person taking the family history, at least) whether your grandfather had 3 or 4 arteries bypassed during his surgery. Try to provide information on your parents, siblings, grandparents and children. And if there was anything unusual in extended family members, including a lot of cancers, please bring these up as well.

Show up early. This might seem obvious, but take extra care to show up on time. There’s a perception that doctors are always running late, and while that is true some of the time for just about everyone (including myself) I am often running right on time, meaning if you have a 10:00 booked that I am planning to see you right at 10:00. So it’s best to show up 20-30 minutes early to make sure you get to the waiting room on time. My patients who are late often either only have the remaining time left in their scheduled visit (so that I am on time for the next person), will have to wait until I have a chance to see them (often at the end of my sessio