Anyone have tips on preparing for initial visit to Mayo Clinic?

Posted by trinitylm @trinitylm, Jul 14, 2023

Does anyone have any tips on making sure you are overly prepared for your initial visit to Mayo? I am bringing my mother in August and we start in internal medicine. I have all her records and want to make the most out of our visit. I plan on putting together a binder with sections that include a medical summary, questions, concerns, medications, etc... What do you think the labels should include? Any tips on what to expect and how to best prepare would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Laurie, Volunteer Mentor | @roch | Jul 14, 2023

trinitylm @trinitylm

Sound like you are very prepared. Even though you want to get most out of appt, I suggest you try and concentrate on the most important reason you requested the appointment and why it is important to you and your mother. Discuss with mother before hand so you agree.

Prior to appt:
- Get a portal sign on
- Fill out all requested forms on portal, will save time when check in
- If requested, sent mother's medical records electronically prior to appointment.

Documentation, when seeing a new doctor I like to have a few pages printed out with following info.
- list of medication including, name, dosage, when take, who prescribed and why are you taking it . Include both prescription and over counter medication, supplements, vitamins, etc..
- list of previous surgeries, type surgeries, when, where
- List of other providers / specialist your mother sees and why
- List of previous diagonsis, when first diagonsed, treatment plan. Just an outline, if provider wants more info, you can refer to your binder.

If going to Mayo, you may want a fresh approach, so give provider an overview and let them decide how to proceed. If you think they are overlooking something, speak up.

You may want to look at The Patient Revolution web site and a tool to plan your conversation with provider:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/638a2b3a70a40f77ee62549d/t/6436db8f69b7686e6803ac89/1681316751908/PatientRev_PYC_English.pdf

Also, check out this thread on tips for inital visits:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/your-tips-on-how-to-get-off-to-the-best-start-with-a-new-specialist/

Laurie

budisnothome | @budisnothome | Jul 14, 2023

Helpful to scan records and put on a thumb drive.

da69 | @da69 | Jul 14, 2023

Get the patient portal app...I finally did at advice of others and its not hard...Even i did it and thats saying something.
Just have your doctors fax all records...Thats what i did.
You can add all the meds you take on the portal app as well.
They also call you the day before arrival and go through it all as well.
best of luck.

emo | @emo | Jul 15, 2023

I laughed in recognition at the “making sure you’re overly prepared” part 🙂

I had the portal already. I brought:

-paper copies of my records organized in a binder

-discs with any relevant imaging also with me.

-typed list of medications, doses , dosing and allergies: this was helpful because I could just hand the paper list to people instead of rewriting it, or they used it to type up without me having to recite everything

As for records, if your medical system uses Epic (what Mayo and many other academic medical centers use), make sure you have your records shared electronically through Care Everywhere.

Personally, I didn’t find having electronic records with me in the clinic very helpful because it takes time to look them up and it’s clunkier. I did have backup electronic copies of them for myself. I had to travel, so I wanted everything with me. That way if someone needed something, I could access it eventually and send it to the provider.

It seemed a little crazy, but it worked for me to carry the majority of my records in a binder. You had asked about the labels. I chose to organize it by speciality with a separate section for imaging, and a separate section for other test results.

I used tab dividers to sort them, i.e. Neurology, Gastoenterology, etc.

Then I went back through with post-it’s to mark off the specific provider because I had notes from multiple rheumatologists and neurologists.

When there was something significant I thought I might need to reference, I marked those things with post-its too.

I think what’s most important is to organize the records so that you can find thing quickly and easily. I ended up going to my binder just a few times in the one week evaluation, but when I did, it was really helpful.

I could say: “I have notes from a neurosurgeon who examined my past spinal fusion. Here they are.”

And “I’ve already done two EMGs. The results are in the medical record my doctor sent but if it’s easier to see the paper copy in front of you, here they are.”

Hope that helps!

griller | @griller | Jul 16, 2023

I have a pocket binder that includes any notes from my local pulmonologist, rheumatologist, hospital stays, cds of any tests performed, prescription list, etc.
I have been to Mayo Rochester twice and have used info from my binder both times.
I also have a separate notebook kept in the binder that begins with my initial call to set my first appointment and documents any follow up calls, appointment notes etc. This has been a life saver more than once.
If you don’t have it, set up the portal!