5 Minutes for future you: Keeping up with your annual appointments

Regular checkups are important for everyone, from newborns to senior citizens. Whether it’s for your eyes, teeth or general health, an annual checkup can help establish a baseline for your health, identify potential issues early on and prevent future problems. 

These visits also help you establish a good relationship with your providers, which supports better communication and can reduce some of the stress when you need to see them for an illness, injury or other concern. 

Remembering to make these appointments, though, can sometimes be a challenge. There are a lot of providers to keep track of— general practitioner, dentist, optometrist and other specialists — and when you have all of those providers for multiple family members, it’s easy for some of them to slip through the cracks. (This is especially true for mothers, who typically manage the family schedule but put their own health on the back burner as they care for other family members.)

We know you might just keep a mental note of the last time you had a checkup, but why not free up that space in your mind by taking a minute to jot it down in Kith + Kin? Simply create a Smart Item for an Appointment for either your most recent visit (so you know when you’re due for the next one) or your next visit.

Kith + Kin can also help you keep track of your questions, symptoms and other information you want to share with your provider. If you’re generally healthy and you’re seeing your providers just once or twice a year, it’s easy to forget non-urgent questions or symptoms once you’re face-to-face with your provider. 

In the same note where you’ve created your appointment, just add questions when they come to mind and note the duration and severity of any minor illnesses, along with any other information you want to share with your provider. 

You’ll also get more out of your visit if you come prepared with other key information:

• List of current medications, including name and dosage, as well as vitamins and supplements.

• Medical history, especially any significant changes since your last visit.

• Vaccines you’ve received since your last visit, like a flu shot or Covid booster.

• Changes to family health history, such as a new diagnosis for one of your parents or a sibling. (Tip: Use Kith + Kin with your family to keep each other in the loop about updates like this.)

If your provider determines you need any follow-up care, like additional visits, referrals or new prescriptions, snap a picture or make a note of those in Kith + Kin during your appointment. Instead of needing to remember every detail afterward or trying to decipher your provider’s notes from your patient portal, you’ll have all of your information easily accessible, written in your own voice, organized your way. Future you will thank you!