A medical history mind map for your next appointment

Collect the basics before anything else

Put your name, the date and your basic details at the root of the map, with a child for each one: date of birth, the practice and clinician you see, height and weight with the date they were measured, and the details of the appointment you are preparing for. This is the part you can do before you walk in.

Add a child for what to bring: the medicines in their original packaging, previous letters or results, and your list of questions. Keep the questions on their own branch, so they are the last thing you read before you go in.

Think about where the file will live. Canvasola keeps your work in the browser's local storage on the device, so a map like this belongs on a laptop or phone you control, not on a shared machine. Nothing is uploaded unless you turn on cloud sync yourself, and the complete Canvasola guide explains how saving works.

• The root label carries the name and the date
• Children: date of birth, practice and clinician, measurements, appointment
• A branch lists what to bring, including the medicines
• The map lives on a device you control, not a shared machine

Note: This map is a personal organizer, not a medical record and not medical advice. Your clinician's records are the official record, and anything you write here is a summary you prepared for yourself.

List conditions and procedures by year

Give each condition its own branch, labeled with the year it was diagnosed and the name you would use with a doctor: 2019 asthma, diagnosed after a chest infection. Year first, because the order tells the story on its own. Children for the current status, who manages it and any regular checks give the shape of the condition, not just its name.

Add a branch for procedures and hospital stays: the year, what was done, where. The same structure works for test results, with the date and the number in the note. Node images accept PNG, JPEG, WebP and GIF files up to 1.5 MB, so a photo of a discharge letter can sit on the branch, and double-clicking the thumbnail opens it.

Keep the note short and factual: who diagnosed it, what was said, what you do about it now. The notes guide covers the bulleted list, which suits several facts about one condition.

• One branch per condition, labeled with the year diagnosed
• Children: current status, who manages it, regular checks
• A separate branch for procedures, stays and test results
• Photos of letters and results up to 1.5 MB per node

Note: Write down what your clinician told you in their words where you can, and mark anything you are unsure about as uncertain. A note that says not sure is more useful than one that sounds confident and is wrong.

Note every current medication

One branch per medicine, with the name and strength in the label: 20 mg, twice daily. Children for when you take it, what it is for, who prescribed it. Include occasional medicines, supplements and painkillers, because those are the ones clinicians ask about.

Photograph the packaging rather than typing from memory when the name is long or unfamiliar. An image on the node keeps the exact spelling and strength readable, and you can compare it against the box at home before the appointment.

Add a child for what you want to ask about each medicine: side effects, what happens if you miss a dose, whether it still needs to be there at all. Those are the questions people have and then leave in the car.

• Name and strength are in the label, not just in the note
• Occasional medicines, supplements and painkillers are listed too
• A photo of the packaging keeps the exact name readable
• Each medicine has the question you want to ask about it

Note: Do not change, stop or start any medicine based on this map or anything you read in it. Bring the list to the appointment and let the clinician decide what is right for you.

Add allergies and what to avoid

Make one branch for allergies and things to avoid, and give each entry a child for what happened, when it first happened, and whether a clinician confirmed it or it is only suspected. The difference matters, because the two are treated differently.

Include the things you avoid that are not allergies, such as a food you cannot digest or a painkiller that upsets your stomach, and mark them as separate entries rather than mixing them into the allergy list. Add anything that matters in a clinical setting, such as latex or a contrast dye, and note where you found out.

Link related entries with cross-links, which work between any two nodes. A reaction linked to the medicine that caused it, or a condition linked to the test that monitors it, makes the pattern visible when you describe your history. Keep the note on each entry factual: what happened, and what you were told.

• One entry per substance, each with what happened and when
• Confirmed allergies are marked apart from suspected ones
• Avoidances that are not allergies are listed separately
• Cross-links join a reaction to the medicine behind it

Note: If a reaction was serious, do not wait for an appointment to mention it. Take the list to an urgent appointment or seek emergency care, and do not rely on this map in an emergency.

Write the questions for the appointment

Give each question its own node, with a child saying why it matters to you. Five to eight is a realistic number for one appointment, and keeping them on the map means the ones you care about are not the ones you forget when you are asked how you have been.

Put the questions in priority order, because you will not get to all of them. The first child of the branch should be the question you would ask if you only got one. Useful categories include new symptoms, test results you do not understand, changes to the medicines, and what to do if a condition gets worse.

Add the follow-up structure too: what was decided, what happens next, by when. The guide to keeping a map current covers the habit of updating a map after a session. Adding the answers to the same nodes makes the next appointment start from the last one, and the fitness goal map uses a personal record in the same way.

• One node per question, with why it matters underneath
• Five to eight questions, in priority order
• The first question is the one you would ask if you got one
• Decisions and next steps are added to the same nodes

Note: Questions are for the clinician to answer, not for the map to answer. Where you want a decision recorded, ask for it to be written down and add the answer to the note afterwards.

Print one page to take with you

Print the summary before you go. The Print action opens your browser's print dialog, so you can choose the scale, the pages and the destination, including saving to a file. There is no direct PDF export, and the print dialog is what gives you the one-page version.

To fit one page, collapse the branches you do not need using the chevron on the node, or use Collapse All and then expand only the sections that matter. Print at the largest scale that fits, then check it: if the medicine names are too small to read at arm's length, the page is too dense.

Keep the letters and results with the printed summary in a folder, and update the map after the appointment with what was decided. When the next one comes around, you open the map, add the new information, and print again rather than starting from a blank sheet.

• Print through the browser dialog, choosing scale and page range
• Collapse branches so the summary fits on one readable page
• Printed medicine names must be legible at arm's length
• The map is updated and reprinted after each appointment

Note: A printed page is a prompt for a conversation, not a substitute for the clinical record or for the person treating you. Keep the map somewhere private, and remember that it holds personal information.

A checklist you can reuse

• The root label names the person and the date the summary was made
• Date of birth, practice and clinician are on the map
• Every condition has a year, a current status and who manages it
• Medicines are listed with name, strength and dose
• Allergies are marked as confirmed or suspected
• Every question has its own node in priority order
• The printed page is legible at arm's length
• The map is kept on a device only you control

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the map as the record. A summary you typed is only as accurate as your memory that day. It is a prompt for the conversation, and the clinical record stays with the clinician.
• Medicines typed from memory. Names and strengths are easy to get wrong. Photograph the packaging so the exact wording is on the node.
• Allergies and avoidances mixed together. A suspected intolerance and a confirmed allergy are treated differently. Mark which is which, and keep non-allergy avoidances in their own entries.
• Fifteen questions and no priority. An unordered list of questions gets answered in whatever order the appointment allows. Put your most important question first and accept that the rest may wait.
• A dense printout nobody can read. One page of everything is not a summary. Collapse the branches that do not matter today, print at the largest scale that fits, then read it at arm's length.

Frequently asked questions

Is a medical history mind map a medical record?

No. It is a personal summary you prepare for yourself, not a medical record system, not a secure store for clinical data and not medical advice. The authoritative record stays with your practice, and decisions about treatment belong with the clinician.

How private is the map?

Canvasola needs no account, and the document is kept in the browser's local storage on the device you use it on. Cloud sync is a setting you turn on yourself, so keep the map on a device only you can open, and remove it from shared computers.

How do I show it to a clinician?

Print the summary and hand it over, or show the screen during the appointment. There is no sharing or publishing feature in the app, so you bring the paper yourself, which also means you control exactly what is handed over and what is left at home.

What if I cannot remember a detail?

Bring the medicines in their packaging, your previous letters and results, and the printed summary with the dates you wrote down while you still remembered. Saying you are not sure is more useful than a confident guess, and the clinician can look it up.

What if a reaction is happening right now?

Do not use this map to decide what to do in an emergency, and do not delay getting help to check it. Get help urgently, tell the responders what you know about your allergies, and mention the summary when you can. The map is for planned appointments.

This guide is part of the mind map use cases collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.