The middle of a family emergency is no time to try to remember who had which shots, which allergies and which stitches. It's hard enough to deal with emergencies without trying to remember someone's medical life history. Keeping a family medical log will give you the answers you need at your fingertips whether there's an emergency or a routine visit. It will give you peace of mind and it could help doctors take better care of your family.
Instructions
1. Call your family's doctors and tell them what you're doing. Ask for a copy of your records for each family member. You may have a few doctors to call and even some hospitals, but this will save you from errors and wasted time. Tell them you need to know shots, tests, surgeries and visits, allergic reactions and dates of treatments and surgeries. They're used to people needing records. Some doctors may charge you for the copying--they have the right to do this as you're tying up their employees' time, but it shouldn't be much of a fee. It's worth it to have the information.
2. Do one person's log at a time. For an adult, put down name, insurance information, license number and social security number. (In an emergency, you will need this information right away). Next, write down date of birth, height, weight, blood type and gender. Write down if she wears glasses or contacts and what her last prescription was. Get the records from your family's dentist as well. Some dental conditions can affect general health and so this is needed, too. Also write down any trips out of the country. Include the dates and the country visited and the reason. If someone is on a safari as opposed to going to a seminar in the heart of Africa, it would matter if the person comes down with something only seen in the jungle areas overseas.
3. Skip a line or two and list any medications the person is currently taking. Beside each drug, write down the dosage and how many times a day it's taken. Then write down what it's being taken for, as some drugs are used for many things. Write down the doctor that prescribed each one and a contact number.
4. Make a heading for "Allergies and Interactions" next. List all the allergies to food, medicine and other things that the person has. Then make note of any bad reactions the person experienced from taking a drug, a certain anesthesia or even a vitamin or mineral product. Date every entry and note if anything was done to counteract these reactions. Always write down a physician to contact. If this person has the same problem that number could save a great many problems and a lot of time and expense in redundant testing later on.
5. Make another heading called "Surgeries" and list them by date for each person. Include all details about blood transfusions, special problems and circumstances that aren't obvious. If you write down appendectomy, for example, you don't need to write the appendix was bad but you would write down, "followed emergency visit for pain--appendix found ruptured and surgery done immediately." If it was an exploratory surgery or an elective surgery or one that usually isn't done for the problem, write a few words of explanation. Then put the date and the doctor's names and contact numbers for these listings.
6. Put down a heading called "Illnesses and Injuries" and record serious illnesses and injuries, such as swine flu for two weeks, broken leg, measles, appendicitis attack and so on. Make sure you have a date written down for everything listed there. This is needed so that the doctor will know what things the patient has been through and tolerated without problems.
7. Do the children last and begin with their births. Put down their height, weight, and so on but leave plenty of room to update the information later. Write down their immunizations, their childhood diseases and all their accidents and injuries that resulted in treatment. Have everyone's names and numbers written down.
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