What you should know about patients who bring a list to their office visit

Purpose ▶ Little is known about patients who present a written list during a medical consultation. In this preliminary study, we sought to examine and characterize patients who use a prepared list. Methods ▶ The design was an open observational case-controlled study that took place at 2 urban primary care clinics. We enrolled patients consecutively as they arrived with a written list for consultation. Consecutive patients presenting without a list served as the control group. Physician interviews and completed questionnaires provided demographic and medical characteristics of this group and explanations for list preparation. Results ▶ Fifty-four patients presented with a list and were compared with controls. Statistically, patients arriving with a list were significantly more likely to be older and retired, and less likely to be salaried workers or housewives. These patients had more chronic diseases and consumed more long-term medications. They had a greater number of doctor visits in the past year compared with controls, and perceived an increase in memory loss. There were no differences between the groups in terms of psychiatric disease or personality disorders. Conclusions ▶ Aside from certain demographic and health characteristics, patients who use written lists do not differ substantially from those who don't. They have no discernible ill intention, and the list serves as a memory aid to make the most of the visit.