Ask-Your-Doctor Cards: 24 Printable Questions to Ask at Medical Appointments

Ask-Your-Doctor Cards by Teo: a dark green cover with two fruit trees and a birch, and the line Circle three. Ask them. Write the answers on the back.

What's inside

24 question cards on print-ready sheets, eight to a page
A4 and US Letter versions
Cutting guides, crop marks and a sheet of blank notes cards
A short note on how to use them, with every source named
All 24 questions on one page, for when you'd rather not cut

Look inside

Page 2, How to use the cards: six steps from print to keep, and where the questions come from, with each published source named

Page 3, card sheet 1: eight cut-out question cards with dashed cutting lines and crop marks, from What are my options? to Does it mix with anything else I take?

Page 6, card sheet 4: blank cards for your three questions for today, your own questions and your notes

Real pages from the file. Tap one to see it larger.

About it

Appointments are short. The questions arrive after you leave.

These cards hold them. Twenty-four questions, grouped by what's happening: any decision, a new medicine, a test or scan, a diagnosis, an operation or procedure, and waiting and the alternatives. Each card has the question in large type and one line from me on why it's worth asking.

They aren't my invention. Three come from Ask 3 Questions, a trial in Sydney where actors playing patients asked family doctors about their options, the benefits and harms, and how likely those were, and got more information back. Others follow BRAN from Choosing Wisely UK: Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, and what if I do Nothing. One asks for the number needed to treat in plain words: out of 100 people like me, how many does it help? The how-to page names every source.

Print the sheet, cut the cards, and circle the three that matter most today. Three questions fit in an appointment; ten don't. Write the answers on the back while you're there, or straight after. There's a sheet of blank cards for your own questions and notes, and a page with all 24 on one sheet if you'd rather not cut.

You get A4 and US Letter editions, with cutting guides and crop marks. Each card is 85 by 55 mm.

I'm not a doctor. These are questions, not advice. The answers come from someone who can examine you.

A page from it

1. What are my options? Why ask. There is usually more than one, and waiting can be one of them.

6. Out of 100 people like me who take it, how many does it help? Why ask. Divide 100 by the answer: that’s the number needed to treat. Smaller is better.

8. Does it mix with anything else I take? Why ask. Show them your list. Vitamins and herbal remedies count too.

Questions

How do I print them?

Print pages 3 to 6 on one side of the paper, at actual size (100%, not "fit to page"), so each card comes out 85 by 55 mm. Card stock is nice. Plain paper works.

A4 or US Letter?

Both are included. Use the one that matches your paper. The cards are the same size in each.

Can I fill them in on screen?

No. They're made to print, cut and write on by hand. The answers go on the back of each card, in pen.

Will my doctor mind?

Good doctors like specific questions. The cards are polite. They ask for numbers, not favours.

Do they help if I go with a parent?

Yes. Pick the three cards together before you go. They can ask, or you can, if they'd like you to. Write the answers on the back so you both have them.

Is this medical advice?

No. They're questions to ask someone who can examine you. They don't tell you what to take, stop or choose.

Where do the questions come from?

From published shared decision-making prompts: Ask 3 Questions (Shepherd and colleagues, 2011), BRAN from Choosing Wisely UK, the number needed to treat (Laupacis and colleagues, 1988) and Choosing Wisely's five questions. The how-to page names each one.