Appointments are short. Paper remembers.

A 2017 review of 67 countries found that in countries holding about half the world's people, the average visit to a family doctor lasts five minutes or less. Another review says people forget between 40 and 80 percent of what a clinician tells them almost straight away. So I made a folder. It won't diagnose anything. Neither will I. It holds what a short appointment needs, on paper, in one place.

It starts with the pages a new clinician asks for first: about me, your care team, emergency contacts and a field for your health service or insurance number. Then your medicines over two pages, with room for the ones you've stopped. Allergies and reactions, in plain words. Family health history, filled in at the kitchen table instead of a waiting room.

Before the appointment, you write the three things you want from it, and your symptoms in your own words. There's a one-week symptom diary, and a blank chart for any reading a clinician has asked you to keep. During it, three appointment notes pages: what they said, tests ordered, medicine changes, next steps and when to call back. After it, a test results tracker, a checklist, and a page of questions to ask about a new medicine or test.

If you help a parent with appointments, it's for you too. Fill it in together, in their words.

You get A4 and US Letter editions. Print it, clip a pen to it, and take it every time.

I'm not a doctor. This folder organises your information and your questions. The answers come from someone who can examine you.