Here’s help to keep your medical records straight
May 22, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
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 Papers have a way of adding up and becoming a mess, with some papers being out of date or not including the necessary information.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.
Please click here to read the rest.
Image: Newscom
~~~~~
Technorati Tags: chronic pain blog,pain blog,medical records,health care records,chronic illnesses,keeping track medical issues
I do the same thing, and I think my care providers tend to take me more seriously because of it. Plus, I never know how I’m going to feel on a day when I have an appointment, so it is super helpful to have all the pertinent info written out for them. I’ve also taken it to the ER before, and I think it helped smooth things along with that experience. Sometimes the ER approaches migraine patients with skepticism when they come to the ER, but giving them all that info about my history helps them realize I’m not just a drug seeker or faker.
I wrote a post recently about my “migraine resume”, which has a lot of similarities. I’ll give you the link here.
http://rhymeswithmigraine.blogspot.com/2008/05/communication.html
When I saw my new doc about 2 weeks ago, he was very impressed with how organized I was, and that the information was all pertinent. It allowed us to cover a lot of ground in our appointment, instead of him having to ask (and me having to remember) everything on my own.
One thing I will also add – I always bring a copy of my “resume” for myself, so I can look at it while we’re talking, too.
-MJ