What to Expect from a Wellness Visit

A wellness visit from a concierge registered nurse is a different experience from a rushed 15-minute appointment at a busy clinic. There's no waiting room, no clipboard of forms, and no one checking the clock. It's a thoughtful, unhurried conversation paired with a thorough clinical assessment — in your own home, on your schedule.

Before the Visit

You'll receive a brief intake form to complete ahead of time covering your medical history, current medications, recent symptoms or concerns, and what you'd like to focus on during the visit. This lets your nurse arrive prepared and ensures the time together is spent on what matters most to you.

If you have any recent lab results, imaging reports, or discharge summaries, having those on hand is helpful — though not required. Your nurse can work with whatever information is available.

What Happens During the Visit

A standard wellness visit typically runs 60 to 90 minutes and includes the following:

Vital Signs Assessment

Your nurse will measure blood pressure (often in both arms), resting heart rate and rhythm, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, and weight. These numbers together reveal a great deal about cardiovascular health, respiratory function, and how your body is currently performing.

Head-to-Toe Physical Assessment

Using a stethoscope, your nurse will listen to your heart and lung sounds. She'll assess your skin, check for edema in your legs and ankles, evaluate your gait and balance, examine lymph nodes and your abdomen, and review neurological basics like reflexes and cognitive orientation. This is the kind of assessment you'd expect in a hospital — done in your living room.

Medication Review

Bring all of your medications — prescription, over-the-counter, vitamins, and supplements — to the table. Your nurse will review each one, confirm you're taking the correct dose at the right times, check for potential interactions, and make sure you understand why each medication was prescribed and what side effects to watch for.

Screening Questions

Depending on your age and health history, your nurse may use validated tools to screen for depression, cognitive changes, fall risk, or nutritional deficiencies. These brief assessments are a routine part of comprehensive wellness monitoring and are designed to catch subtle changes early.

Personalized Health Education

This is where the visit becomes truly individualized. Whether you're trying to lower your blood pressure through diet, understand a new diabetes diagnosis, improve your sleep, or prepare for an upcoming procedure, your nurse brings clinical expertise and unhurried time to work through your questions thoroughly.

After the Visit

Following your visit, you'll receive a written summary of the findings, any recommendations made, and suggested follow-up steps — whether that's scheduling a physician appointment, adjusting a medication schedule, or simply repeating the wellness check in three months. This documentation is yours to keep and share with any of your other healthcare providers.

"Wellness visits aren't about finding problems — they're about knowing exactly where you stand so you can make informed decisions about your health."
— Sue Volpe, RN

Ready to schedule your wellness visit? Book online or call us at (224) 506-8600 — we serve the Arlington Heights area and surrounding Chicagoland suburbs.