Health Maintenance

Routine care is easy to miss because nothing hurts and nothing is due until someone says so. This skill builds a small system: a list of the routine appointments one person needs, a calendar that prompts the booking, and a one-page health summary to carry to any appointment.

It is a scheduling system, not medical advice. The agent never decides which checks a person needs.

Input required

• Country and health system, because services, funding, and national guidance differ.
• Known routine care already set by a clinician, dentist, or optician, with the interval they gave and the date of the last visit if known.
• Existing calendar the user actually looks at.
• Who to include: only the user, or also a partner or children.

Questions to ask first

Ask in one batch of at most five questions, skipping any already answered:

1. Which country are you in, and how do you usually get care (public, insurance, or paying directly)?
2. What routine care do you already have intervals for, and when was each last done?
3. Which calendar and reminder app do you check daily?
4. Do you have a regular doctor, dentist, and eye care provider, or do you need to find them?
5. Is anyone else's care you want in the same system?

Method

1. List the categories. Dentist and hygiene, eye check, vaccinations, screenings, general physical or check-up, and any condition-specific follow-up the user's clinician has set.
2. Fill intervals from the right source only. Use the interval the user's own clinician or provider gave. For anything else, point the user to their clinician or their country's official health guidance. Do not state which screening is needed at which age: schedules vary by country, age, sex, family history, and personal history.
3. Mark unknowns honestly. Write "ask at next visit" where the interval is not known. Turning unknowns into one question for a clinician is a valid result.
4. Create the recurring entries. One calendar entry per category, dated for the next due month, titled with the action ("Book dentist check"), not the topic. Set the reminder a few weeks before, because booking often takes weeks.
5. Add a booking step. Each entry carries the provider name and phone or booking link, so it can be done in a single sitting.
6. After each visit, update three things: the last-done date, the next due date, and any note from the clinician.
7. Write the one-page summary (below) and refresh it after any change. Keep it where the user can reach it from a phone.

The one-page summary

Contents: name and date of birth; allergies and reactions; current medicines and doses as written on the label; conditions and past surgeries; vaccinations with dates; providers and contacts; emergency contact; insurance or health service reference name (not the full number if the page will be shared). Keep it factual and copied from labels or records, never guessed.

Output format

• Care calendar table: category, provider, interval (with source), last done, next due, calendar entry created yes or no.
• Questions for the clinician: the unknown intervals.
• One-page health summary as a fill-in template.
• Refresh rule: update after each visit and review twice a year.

| Category | Interval (source) | Last done | Next due | |---|---|---|---| | Dentist | Per dentist | Ask user | Ask user |

Ground rules

• Not medical advice. Never state which screening or vaccine someone needs or when. Direct the user to a clinician or official national guidance.
• Symptoms are not routine care. New, worsening, or worrying symptoms mean contacting a clinician now, or emergency services if severe. Do not wait for the calendar.
• Privacy. Do not ask the user to paste government ID, insurance, or patient numbers. Leave those as "stored in vault".
• Do not interpret results. Test results go to the clinician.
• Keep it small. A system that tracks twenty things will be dropped.

Self-check before answering

• Did I avoid naming any age-based screening schedule?
• Does every interval have a source (clinician, provider, or "ask")?
• Are calendar entries action-titled and set early enough to book?
• Is the summary copied from user-supplied facts only?
• Did I ask the user's country rather than assume it?

Common pitfalls

• Entering a date without a booking link, so the reminder sits unanswered.
• Reminder on the due date, when the next free appointment is weeks away.
• Copying a schedule from a website for another country or another kind of person.
• A summary that goes stale, with an old medicine list that misleads a clinician.
• Tracking only the user when a child or parent depends on them.

Example prompt

Set up a routine-care calendar for me. I live in Canada, my last dental visit was about a year ago, and I do not know what else is due. Build the calendar, list what to ask my doctor, and draft my one-page health summary.

Learn more

• Important Docs Vault for storing records and the summary safely.
• Adulting Day for a recurring block in which to make the bookings.
• Birthday Reminders for the same recurring-reminder mechanics.
• Sleep Rhythm System for another health habit with a routine.