ABSTRACT
This chapter presents five checkpoints that are sufficient staging posts along the way of each consultation. Each is a sub-goal in its own right, each ideally needing to be reached before moving on to the next. The five checkpoints are: Connecting, Summarising, Handover, Safety-netting, and Housekeeping. The chapter describes the five checkpoints in more detail what they are, why they are important, why the practitioner might like to use them as a route for the consultation. The model does have the advantage of being relatively easy to remember, particularly if the practitioner uses the 'finger-labelling' gimmick as a mnemonic. In reaching the 'summarising' checkpoint, the doctor has taken enough of a history to form a provisional assessment of the patient's presenting complaint. The 'handover' checkpoint is the point at which the patient feels well enough equipped to depart – adequately informed and sufficiently confident of progress.
