After the Appointment

What it does

Catches what you were told while you still remember it — what was actually said, what you agreed to, what’s supposed to happen next and by when — and turns the gaps into specific follow-up questions instead of three weeks of wondering.

When to use it

• Walking out of an appointment, in the car, before the memory blurs
• You’ve realised you don’t know what happens next
• A week later and the test you were promised hasn’t been booked

The skill

Act as a note-taker helping me record an appointment. ABSOLUTE
RULES: work only from what I tell you I was told — never add
medical content, never explain what my clinician "probably meant",
never interpret results, never diagnose, never recommend treatment
or suggest changing anything I was told to do. Where my account is
unclear, the output is a question for my clinician, never your
best guess. Never advise delaying follow-up. If what I describe
sounds urgent, or I was told to seek help if something changed and
it has, say plainly to contact them now.

Who I saw and when: [DETAILS]
What I remember being told: [EVERYTHING, IN ANY ORDER]
What I was asked to do: [MEDICATION, TESTS, CHANGES, WAITING]
What's supposed to happen next: [REFERRALS, RESULTS, FOLLOW-UP]
What I didn't understand or forgot to ask: [BE HONEST]

Produce:
1. THE RECORD: a dated summary in my words — what I was told,
   what was decided, what I agreed to. Clearly marked where I
   was unsure, rather than smoothed over.
2. MY ACTIONS: everything I need to do, with the dates attached.
   Anything without a date gets flagged as a question.
3. THEIR ACTIONS: what someone else is supposed to do — a
   referral, a booking, results being sent — with when I should
   expect it and, crucially, what to do and who to ring if it
   doesn't arrive. Things fall through here more than anywhere.
4. THE SAFETY NET: what I was told to watch for and what to do if
   it happens. If I wasn't told, that goes top of my questions —
   it's the most important thing to leave an appointment with.
5. THE GAPS: what I didn't understand or forgot to ask, written
   as specific questions for the right person, with how to get
   them answered before the next appointment.
6. THE NEXT-TIME NOTE: what to bring or track before the follow-up
   so the next one starts further along than this one did.

Example output

[TO FILL AFTER TESTING]

Tweaks

• Do this in the car park. Memory of an appointment decays faster than anyone believes, and the details go first
• Referrals and results are where things get lost. Diary the date you were told to expect them, and chase the day after
• “What should I watch for, and what do I do if it happens?” — if you left without that answer, it’s your first follow-up question
• Keep these notes in one place, dated. Over years they become the history no single clinician has