Medical Summary
Tips on creating your medical summary so you are prepared for every ER visit or new visit with a doctor
Reasons and Tips for creating a medical summary
Why did we put a summary together?
Since Zach’s leading care team is out of state, the visits to the ER have become a bit more frequent. We found that we were updating the doctors on his medical history and filling in the gaps. This summary dates back to his symptoms pre-diagnosis and all the subsequent doctor visits, chemo infusions, and ER visits and treatments.
Who might want a medical summary?
Not everyone needs a medical summary, but if you find yourself going to multiple doctors, have a severe illness, cancer diagnosis, chronic illness, or various treatments and surgeries, you might want one. It allows you to communicate effectively without remembering all the details and dates.
Where do you keep the medical summary?
Zach’s medical summary is a working Google doc. This way, I can add to it and access it anytime. After all updates, I print one and put it in the car so I can pass it along to the doctors we see.
How to put the medical summary together.
Begin with dates and the symptoms that led to the diagnosis. Then, keep going in chronological order of surgeries, pertinent doctor appointments, and course of treatments.
Include chemo dates and drugs.
Include a list of medications and dosages.
Include any other information a doctor needs to know to give the best treatment.
