Doctor visit prep worksheet

Use this before a same-day diagnostic visit, first planned gout visit, prevention review, repeated-flare visit, unclear-diagnosis visit, or medication review.

Do not include names, photos, addresses, clinician names, account details, or clinic identifiers unless you need them for your own private record.

Same-day routing check

Mark any that apply:

• First hot, swollen joint or first possible gout flare
• Fever, chills, wound, spreading redness, or concern for infection
• Trauma, fall, puncture, or injury
• Severe illness, immune suppression, or high-risk medical context
• Pattern is not normal for me
• Pain is extreme, rapidly worsening, or the joint cannot be used

If any are checked, this may be a same-day evaluation issue.

Visit type

• Same-day diagnostic visit
• First planned gout visit
• Prevention review
• Repeated-flare review
• Medication or lab review
• Unclear diagnosis or new pattern

Main decision I need from this visit:

Pattern summary

• Flare count in the period I care about:
• Approximate flare dates or date ranges:
• Joints affected:
• Same-joint recurrence:
• New joints or new symptoms:
• Baseline pain or function limits between flares:
• Lingering swelling, heat, stiffness, or sensitivity:

Rescue response

Labs and monitoring

Questions:

• Should serum urate be repeated after the flare settles?
• What serum urate target are we treating to?
• What labs should be monitored, and when?

Changes since the pattern started

• Medication changes:
• Supplement changes:
• Hormone context or hormone medication changes:
• Diet, alcohol, concentrated fructose, fasting, or weight-change context:
• Training, travel, heat, dehydration, injury, or illness:
• New products, topicals, cannabis products where legal, or sleep aids:

Top questions

Choose the most important 3.

Possible questions to use or rewrite:

• What is the working diagnosis, and what else should be considered?
• What serum urate target are we treating to?
• If my uric acid number was normal during a flare, should we repeat it after the flare settles?
• Do repeated flares, same-joint flares, or lingering swelling suggest imaging or tophi evaluation?
• Does baseline pain or function limit suggest joint damage, tophi, another diagnosis, or a prevention gap?
• What is my rescue plan for the next flare?
• What signs mean use the plan, step back, call, or seek same-day evaluation?
• If medication is started or changed, what should we monitor and when?

During the visit

• Diagnosis or working diagnosis:
• Urate target:
• Labs ordered:
• Imaging ordered:
• Medicine changes:
• Rescue plan:
• Activity boundary:
• Follow-up timing:
• Questions still unanswered:

After the visit

• What I am doing next:
• What I am tracking:
• When I should recheck labs:
• When to message or call:
• What to bring to the next visit:

Claude prompt

Help me prepare a de-identified gout doctor visit worksheet. Ask one question at a time. Do not ask for names, photos, addresses, clinician names, account details, or clinic identifiers. First ask which visit type this is: same-day diagnostic visit, first planned gout visit, prevention review, repeated-flare review, medication or lab review, or unclear diagnosis. Then ask for flare pattern, labs, baseline pain, rescue response, medication or supplement changes, and main concerns. End with a one-page visit agenda and blank note fields for what the clinician says.