Understanding Your Care Visits

A practical guide to preparing for care visits, asking clear questions, and keeping answers and next steps in one place.

Format digital

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Item ID grp001

Educational support only. This resource complements, not replaces, provider instructions, facility policy, or medical advice.

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Understanding Your Care Visits is a CarePlanCompass™ Guide that helps readers understand their care information, build a working relationship with their care team, and keep conversations and next steps together. It moves through three parts: Understand Your Care, plain-language reading on explanations, options, and what to expect; Build Your Care Relationship, on sharing priorities, asking questions, and checking understanding; and Your Care Conversations and Notes, with visit preparation, a care communication log for visits, calls, and portal messages, agreed next steps, and generous writing space. References are listed at the end, and the Guide pairs well with the Lifestyle & Functional Health Companion. It is educational and organizational support and does not replace individualized medical, rehabilitation, or emergency care.

care visits doctor appointments visit preparation questions to ask my doctor care team communication patient advocacy shared decision making teach-back appointment notes communication log caregiver support health literacy understanding my care

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View clinical references 10 sources

Kessels RPC. Patients' memory for medical information. J R Soc Med. 2003;96(5):219-222. doi:10.1258/jrsm.96.5.219
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Be more engaged in your healthcare. AHRQ;Updated November 2024. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.ahrq.gov/questions/be-engaged/index.html Source
Elwyn G, Frosch D, Thomson R, et al. Shared decision making: a model for clinical practice. J Gen Intern Med. 2012;27(10):1361-1367. doi:10.1007/s11606-012-2077-6
American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupations and everyday activities. AOTA;Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.aota.org/practice/domain-and-process/occupations-everyday-activities Source
American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process—Fourth Edition. Am J Occup Ther. 2020;74(Suppl 2):7412410010p1-7412410010p87. doi:10.5014/ajot.2020.74S2001 Source
Kinnersley P, Edwards A, Hood K, et al. Interventions before consultations for helping patients address their information needs. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007;(3):CD004565. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004565.pub2
National Institute on Aging. Taking someone to a doctor's appointment: tips for caregivers. National Institutes of Health;Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/medical-care-and-appointments/taking-someone-doctors-appointment-tips-caregivers Source
US Food and Drug Administration. Create and keep a medication list for your health. FDA;Published February 12, 2025. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/create-and-keep-medication-list-your-health Source
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Use the teach-back method: tool 5. Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. 3rd ed;Updated April 2024. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.ahrq.gov/health-literacy/improve/precautions/tool5.html Source
Talevski J, Wong Shee A, Rasmussen B, et al. Teach-back: a systematic review of implementation and impacts. PLoS One. 2020;15(4):e0231350. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231350

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