Knowledge for shared decisions
Your voice
belongs in the plan.
Clear information helps patients and families prepare, ask better questions, understand options and carry out a treatment plan safely. Use this toolkit before, during and after a cardiovascular visit.
Before · during · after
A simple compass for every visit
Preparation reduces the burden of remembering everything in the room. Choose the most important concern first and leave with a plan you can explain in your own words.
Organize
Summarize symptoms, medicines, history, recent results and the three questions that matter most.
Before the visitExplore
Ask why a test or treatment is proposed, what the alternatives are and what uncertainty remains.
During the visitTeach back
Repeat the diagnosis, decision and instructions in your own words so the team can correct misunderstandings.
Before leavingFollow through
Complete tests, take medicines correctly, monitor agreed symptoms and know when to contact the team.
After the visitPrepare with purpose
Bring the information that changes decisions
A current medication list, accurate symptom story and clear priorities are more useful than trying to remember everything from memory.
One place for the essentials
Use paper or a phone—whichever you will reliably update and carry. A trusted family member may help listen, take notes and confirm the next steps.
Do not rely on pill color or shape alone. Record each medicine’s name, strength, purpose and instructions.
When symptoms began, triggers, frequency, duration, severity and activities now limited.
Prescriptions, nonprescription drugs, vitamins, supplements, allergies and prior reactions.
Operations, procedures, hospitalizations, major diagnoses and relevant family history.
Reports or images not already available to the treating team, with dates and locations.
Write the three questions you most want answered and place the highest priority first.
Goals, worries, work, caregiving, finances, recovery support and what quality of life means to you.
Questions that open the decision
Ask until the plan makes sense
Good questions are not a challenge to the clinical team. They are part of safe, patient-centered care.
What exactly is the problem?
How certain is the diagnosis, how severe is it and what may happen without intervention?
What choices do I have?
Include surveillance, medicines, procedures, surgery and—when relevant—no intervention now.
What are the benefits and harms?
Ask about likelihood, seriousness, durability, recovery, reintervention and uncertainty.
Which option fits my priorities?
Explain what matters most: survival, symptom relief, independence, recovery time or avoiding particular risks.
What should I know about the center?
Ask about team experience, alternatives offered, expected pathway and how complications are managed.
What happens now?
Clarify urgency, tests, preparation, who will contact you, follow-up and what should change the plan.
Shared decision-making
Three kinds of knowledge, one plan
Shared decision-making is not the patient deciding alone. It is a structured conversation that compares reasonable options and incorporates what matters most to the patient.
What is known
Expected benefits, harms, probabilities, durability, alternatives and scientific uncertainty.
What matters
Goals, values, preferences, acceptable trade-offs, support, responsibilities and lived experience.
What fits
Diagnosis, anatomy, comorbidity, procedural experience, feasibility and individualized judgment.
Close the loop before you leave
- “I understand that my main problem is …”
- “We decided to … because …”
- “I should call you if …”
Before a test, procedure or operation
A readiness checklist you can use
Ticking a box is not consent by itself. Each item is a prompt to identify what still needs explanation or preparation.
Medication safety
One accurate list can prevent avoidable harm
Keep the list current and share it across clinics, pharmacies and emergencies. Include nonprescription medicines and supplements—not only prescriptions.
Record
Name, strength, purpose, dose, timing, prescriber, allergies and important reactions.
Reconcile
Update the list whenever a medicine starts, stops or changes—and after every hospital stay.
Ask
Clarify food, alcohol, over-the-counter drugs, supplements, missed doses and monitoring.
Never guess
Do not double a dose, stop anticoagulation or modify high-risk medicines without specific advice.
Carry
Keep a paper or phone copy available and share it with a trusted caregiver for emergencies.
Tests & results
Every test needs a question and a follow-up plan
What will this test answer?
Ask how the result could confirm a diagnosis or change treatment.
What must I do beforehand?
Fasting, medicines, kidney function, allergies, transport and prior records.
What should I expect?
Duration, discomfort, sedation, contrast, radiation and recovery instructions.
How will I receive the result?
Who communicates it, when to expect it and whom to contact if the result is delayed.
Know when to escalate
Routine question, urgent call or emergency?
The personal care plan should define condition-specific warning signs. When in doubt about a meaningful change, contact the treating team.
Routine contact
Stable questions about appointments, forms, refills, instructions or long-standing symptoms without change.
Prompt clinical advice
New or worsening symptoms, medication reactions, fever after a procedure, wound concerns, new palpitations or rapid fluid-related change.
Immediate help
Severe breathing difficulty, persistent severe chest pain, major bleeding, fainting, sudden collapse or stroke symptoms. Call 115 in Vietnam.
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Questions are part of good care
This toolkit reflects AHRQ patient-engagement and shared decision-making resources, FDA medication-list guidance and American Heart Association advice for preparing for medical visits.
