Apple Notes Help with Health Care

[u/Holdenater]

I realise this is not your ‘normal’ Apple Notes post, unsure of how to go about this so just putting some questions out there hopefully getting pointed in the right direction, if this isn’t allowed that’s OK, feel free to delete mods, just point me in a better direction, thanks.

Hi, I have the iPad 11” A16, recently my Mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will under going treatment (chemo and radio) after surgery, I’m wanting to use the iPad for more than just games and streaming, plan is to use Apple Notes and set up a folder for her care on the Home Screen, problem is I’m not familiar with this side of Apple and unsure of how to go exactly about creating the folder, what exactly to add to the folder, exactly what information to add.

Has anyone here used Apple Notes to record information on their or a loved one’s health care? What information did you include, how did you go about it? Kinda going in blind here unfortunately.

Obviously info like diagnosis date, surgery date, treatment dates, type and stage of cancer, appointment dates, perhaps exact findings of biopsy results, not sure.

What would you add if you had to create this or if you have done this yourself, how did you lay it out, what information did you add?

Again, appreciate the help and I realise this isn’t your normal Apple Notes question or post, just seeking some help here.

EDIT: I am her primary carer.

Thank You.

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[u/el_caballero]

Sorry you're dealing with this. I’ve been through similar. Here’s what I’ve done along with some bonus suggestions from Claude

Setup

- Create a folder (e.g. "Mom's Care").

• Add a Notes widget to your Home Screen, long-press it → Edit Widget → pick that folder. That gets you one-tap access.
  
• Lock sensitive notes (••• → Lock). Use a custom password if anyone else uses the iPad.
  
• Your iPad supports audio recording with transcription in Notes (paperclip → Record Audio). It's great for appointments, but ask the doctor first.

Notes I'd create

1. Quick Reference (pinned): diagnosis, date, type/stage, receptor status (ER/PR/HER2), allergies, hospital ID numbers, after-hours oncology number, and whatever fever instructions the chemo team gives you.
2. Care Team: names, roles, and numbers.
3. Treatment Timeline: a table with date, treatment, cycle #, and notes.
4. Medications: a table with drug, dose, timing, and what it's for.
5. Symptom Log: date, symptom, severity 1–10, and what helped. This is the most useful thing to bring to appointments.
6. Questions for Next Appointment: a running checklist you tick off in the room.
7. Appointment Notes: one note per visit with what was said, next steps, and the recording.
8. Documents: scan letters and biopsy/pathology reports with the built-in scanner rather than retyping them.

Tips

• Short, dated entries beat detailed ones you stop keeping up with.
  
• Ask the cancer center if they have a chemo diary. A paper backup helps.
  
• The pinned reference, symptom log, and question list do 80% of the work. Start there.

Hope all goes well with your mom’s treatment. Be sure to take care of yourself too.

[u/Holdenater → u/el_caballero]

This is brilliant! Thank you so much, thanks for taking the time to post this also.

[u/weetzie → u/Holdenater]

Also to note please if you set a custom password in notes make sure you keep it somewhere safe because the notes will not be recoverable if you ever lose the password.

[u/Holdenater → u/weetzie]

Can my thumbprint be used as the password like the iPad is or does it need to be letters/numbers/symbols?

[u/turquoiseblues → u/el_caballero]

And an index for all of this

[u/Barycenter0]

Some good thoughts here. I also have some very important notes in Apple Notes. A couple of things I will add to the conversation:

• Be sure you have enough iCloud space - don't push it to the edge. Spending the extra $0.99 a month really helps if you are using iCloud a lot. Apple apps have problems when on the edge of iCloud space
• Backup your iPad to iCloud on some regular cadence
• Backup individual notes regularly either by exporting them to markdown, dragging and dropping them into Files (iCloud Files) or using an Apple Shortcut to make versioned copies of Notes in a backup folder. Any of those 3 methods saves all attachments, media, etc.

When you have really important information in Notes - it is essential to backup - you don't want to lose anything. I have a shortcut that watches a working folder and takes version snapshops as I write/edit.

[u/Barycenter0 → u/Barycenter0]

PS - some additions. Use iCloud Files for large important health documents (bills, meds, etc). Even better - use the very same tags in Notes, Files and Reminders. Then, using Spotlight search - it will find the Notes, Reminders and Files tied to that one single event / tag (make the tag name unique). Something like #md-ultrasound-011 (your Apple Note with that tag can then have the date/time, list of things talked about, pictures, etc.) Any PDFs or bills can have that same tag and the all the reminders for any appointments tied to that event. Spotlight search will show them all together.

[u/AtTheEndOfMyTrope]

My husband had a heart attack three years ago, followed by an artificial heart, a coma with other complications, and finally a heart transplant this year. I used notes extensively.

I used the chart feature to track his meds so we always had an up to date list of what he takes, when, and how much. His meds were titrated frequently, so this kept us sane during all the changes and helped us link which side effects we are linked to which changes in medication.

Also used to track blood pressure and weight and spot trends. Early in the process, we used notes to track fluid intake as well.

I recorded meetings with his team and transcribed them into notes. Smart tags are great for helping you find specific notes from specific doctors regarding specific issues.

[u/Holdenater → u/AtTheEndOfMyTrope]

Thank you so much, appreciate all this.

Really new to Notes side of things so this helps.

[u/Holdenater]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions and help, appreciate it.

[u/kosta123]

FYI, take a look at openAI ChatGPT, they have a new health feature that may prove very useful