Helping keep your medical records straight

Even though there’s been quite a bit of news about electronic personal health care records, such as Google Health (Ready, set…. Google has done it again), we’re responsible for keeping track of our own medical health issues. For people with multiple illnesses, keeping track of everything can be stressful. Papers have a way of adding up and becoming a mess, with some papers being out of date or not including the necessary information.

A friend of mine who has several serious medical issues has come up with a solution that works well for her and her family. She graciously offered it to me to share with you all.

She designed this page, which you can copy and personalize for you or a family member.

And now, I’ll let her explain it further:

I was often asked the same things over and over and they tended to be asked in the same order, so I structured a document to include all the information I am asked a lot *and* organized it in the order I’m usually asked for it.

I can tell you that doctors, nurses, residents, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and just plain folks at the front desk LOVE the document and then practically kiss my feet when they find out that I carry duplicate copies so they can have the one in their hands — I’ve got more. Everyone also very much likes the footer that gives the date on which the document was last changed.

For example, I only see my family practice doctor on and off, but lots might be going on with my hematologist and my rheumatologist. My family doc likes to keep my medication information, and when I’m in, all he has to do is to check the bottom line to see if he should replace the one he has or not. In the ER, they practically do cartwheels because they can copy right off the typed document things like my surgery history and my daily meds. Copying from a typed list with dosage information clearly listed is heaven in comparison to trying to drag it out of a patient that really isn’t feeling well and keeps changing their mind or arguing with their spouse or whatever.

Anyway, it immediately puts me in a positive light right from the start, and every little bit helps. For example, if I’m getting all my meds by IV, which I usually am during hospital stays, it takes from 20 to 40 minutes to prepare and administer my medications, and I get them every 3 hours around the clock. This obviously means I take up far more than the time allotted for a patient of my age and the reason I was admitted — the meds just come along for the ride because I can’t get along without them. There are usually some additional ones that are specific to why I was admitted. Anyway, getting the nurses in a positive frame of mind about me at the start is a plus when they are going nuts trying to assemble all the stuff they need at 3 am!

I carry a bunch of copies of this stuff around *all* the time (except once when I turned out to need it. Now it is *always*!) I print 3-4 of the whole document, 2-3 of the first part of the document that gives the basics, including surgeries and “conditions”, 6 copies of the medication list (it is the one most frequently wanted and by carrying extras of things, they don’t have to copy them), 4 copies of the doctor list and 4-5 copies of the “what usually happens when I go to the hospital” section. Since I left out most, if not all, of the information in that section, it isn’t really very relevant to the overall document. Oh…I also carry the US documents that say if I’m brain dead, what I want done, if I stop breathing or my heart stops, whether or not I want resuscitation attempted, and if I am not able to make medical choices for myself, who I want to make them for me.

I paper clip together the copies that are the same (e.g. the doctor list), then put them in a sturdy folder that is made of some sort of plastic and has a bright pink stripe down the back edge. It has 2 pockets inside and I split up the paper clipped bundled so the pockets are holding approximately even amounts of paper, then make sure I take it everywhere. At home, it is always in the same place and all family members know to hand it to a paramedic should I be unconscious and they have to call an ambulance.

“Suzy Q’s” method may not be necessary for everyone, but it gives a great example of how you can organize the most complicated medical issues.

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