How to prepare a medical summary for a new doctor

What a good summary contains

• the known diagnoses, with the year they were made
• the current medication: name, dose, schedule
• allergies and adverse reactions, written first
• important events: operations and hospital stays, with the date and the place
• the latest relevant tests and their result, as written in the document
• what changed recently and why the appointment was booked
• the other doctors who follow the patient

Short, on a single page

Write in short sentences and use exactly the terms in the medical documents, without interpretation. If a result does not fit, point to the original document ("see the tests of 12 March"). A summary that takes two minutes to read gets read; one of five pages gets skimmed.

Attach the key documents

Next to the summary, have the latest discharge letter, the latest tests and the investigations the summary refers to. The doctor must be able to check every statement in the document it comes from.

Check before you send

• the doses and schedule are the current ones, not those of a few months ago
• stopped medicines no longer appear under the current medication
• dates and names of tests are copied correctly
• no information appears twice, in two different ways

Send it safely

The summary holds sensitive data. Hand it to the doctor directly, on paper or through a link you can withdraw, not through group chats. After the appointment, update it with what was decided so it is ready for the next doctor.