How do you read an after-visit summary?

An after-visit summary is the document many practices give you at the end of an appointment, on paper or in your patient portal. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality describes it as a patient-specific summary of the visit, printed from the electronic record. Its content varies, but it generally includes your diagnoses, problems, allergies and instructions.

It helps to read it in a set order rather than top to bottom. First, find the reason for the visit and any instructions. Then look for anything with a date on it: a test to book, a referral, or when to come back. Put those in your calendar straight away.

Next, check it against what you remember. If an instruction reads differently from what you understood in the room, or something you discussed is missing, ask. The National Institute on Aging suggests calling the office or using the portal when an instruction is unclear once you are home.

Keep it. An AHRQ-funded study found that patients liked receiving a summary but recalled little of its content, and concluded that it should not be relied on alone. In practice that means rereading it, and keeping it somewhere you will find it before the next appointment.

Know where the rest of your record lives. MedlinePlus explains that patient portals let you view visit information and test results and send non-urgent questions. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT adds that you have a right to see and get a copy of your health record, and to ask for mistakes to be corrected.

A companion app like Emerge Care can keep your own notes next to each visit, so the summary and what you remember sit in the same place.