The short answer
Keeping records of your tests, treatments, and medicines helps you and your care team. You can use a folder, notebook, calendar, or app — whatever you will actually use. A personal health record lets you store key details in one place, and a hospital social worker can help you set up a system.
Keeping records of your care helps you and your care team make decisions.
Write down visits, tests, treatments, side effects, and medicines, with dates.
Use whatever system you will actually use — folder, notebook, calendar, or app.
A personal health record (PHR) keeps your key details in one place you control.
Choose how you want to understand this
The full explanation.
The simple version
Keeping records of your medicines, tests and treatments is one of the most useful things you can do during cancer care. It can feel like a lot at first. But a simple system, started early, makes appointments smoother. It also helps you and your care team make good decisions. There is no single right way to do it. The best system is the one you will actually use.
What is worth writing down
The National Cancer Institute suggests keeping copies of treatment plans and results. It also suggests recording:
- the dates of each medical visit
- tests and procedures received, with dates and results
- treatments received, with dates
- side effects and symptoms you have had, with dates
- any medicines prescribed
- other supportive or complementary care received
You can keep these in a file folder. Or you can take photos and save them on your computer.
Pick a system that works for you
Different tools suit different people. You might use:
- a notebook or journal for details, questions and notes during visits
- a calendar or daily planner just for medical information
- apps on your phone or computer to organize and remind you
You can also ask if you may record talks with your doctor. Then you can listen fully during the conversation and check the details later.
What matters is not which tool you choose. It is that you use one you will stick with.
A personal health record
Some doctors, insurers and employers offer a personal health record (PHR). This is a tool that lets you enter, manage and track your medical information. It is like the electronic record your doctor keeps. The difference is that you control it and you decide who sees it.
One page to keep handy
It helps to keep a single sheet with key information for yourself and others. Include:
- the names and contact information of your care team
- your diagnosis, such as the type and stage of your cancer
- your treatment plan from your doctor
- any serious side effects or changes in health that need urgent care
Be ready for an emergency
Being ready for a natural disaster or other emergency matters for everyone. It matters even more for people with cancer, whose care could be disrupted. Keep your key records together and easy to grab. A hospital social worker can share more ways to track your medical information.
A little organizing now gives you one less thing to worry about later.
Bring your notebook to every visit
A simple notebook or journal can be one of your most useful tools. Write down details about side effects, along with questions to ask your doctor. Bring it to each visit, so you can take notes and look back later. You can also ask whether you may record your conversations with your doctor on a recorder or phone. That frees you to listen closely, knowing you will not miss anything.
Use electronic tools when they help
Some providers, insurers and employers offer online tools to manage your information. Apps on your phone or computer can help you remember appointments and organize records. The government's HealthIT.gov site has guidance on using digital tools to manage your health information. Choose whatever feels right to you. The goal is simply to keep everything in one place and easy to find.
A note before we begin
This information is educational. It is not a substitute for medical advice. For your own care, talk with your care team or a hospital social worker.
Reviewed sources
This article is based on public information from the National Cancer Institute:
Words to know
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Common questions
What records should I keep during cancer treatment?
Helpful items include copies of treatment plans and results, dates of visits, tests and procedures with dates and results, treatments with dates, side effects and symptoms with dates, any medicines prescribed, and other supportive care you received.
What is a personal health record?
A personal health record (PHR) is a tool that lets you enter, manage, and track your medical information. It is like the electronic record your doctor keeps, except you control it and decide who sees it.
Do I need a special app or system?
No. The National Cancer Institute says it is not important which system you choose, only that you use something to keep everything organized and easy to find. A notebook, calendar, folder, or app can all work.
Why keep a page of key information handy?
In an emergency, it helps for you and others to have your care team's contacts, your diagnosis, your treatment plan, and any serious side effects to watch for all in one place.
Questions to ask your doctor
Being prepared helps you get the most out of your appointments. Save or print these questions.
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Your next step
Your care team's answer depends on your treatment — ask them directly.
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Last updated: 2026-08-05Next planned review: 2028-07-14
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
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Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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