A Tool to Strengthen Older Patient-Companion Partnership in Primary Care

A self-administered checklist was compared to usual care. The checklist was designed to: (1) elicit and align patient and companion perspectives regarding health concerns to discuss with the doctor, and (2) stimulate discussion about the companion’s role in the visit. Patients and companions stated the checklist was easy to complete (88%), useful (91%), and they uniformly (100%) recommended it to other patients.