Health Records Reality Check: You can’t depend on a doctor, hospital or EMT/paramedic to know your personal health information

In the aftermath of an emergency situation or natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy we often look back and ask a serious question:

“What could we have done differently to be more prepared?” 

Reflecting on the events that unfolded in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, we can get a idea of the magnitude of what can happen:

• approximately 1.5 million people were evacuated.
• emergency shelters were set up to triage 30,000 to 40,000 people.
• a 700 bed emergency room was set up to address patient needs.

But in the midst of this effort another crisis was being battled which increased the degree of difficulty for healthcare providers in treating these patients:

Medical records were lost, destroyed or inaccessible for use to treat patients properly.

In the wake of the storm many of these patients could not remember what prescription medications they took.  Doctors could not confirm medications, immunizations, test results or a patient’s medical history.  One can only imagine the problems that arose trying to treat these patients when healthcare providers were lacking important patient personal health information.

Some would say the electronic medical record systems employed at hospitals and doctor’s offices now solve the problems we faced during Katrina.  But recently during Hurricane Sandy, we saw hospitals losing power and cell phone grids being crippled. How are the electronic medical records to be accessed then?  Likewise, records ‘in the cloud’ or ‘silos’ may not be usable.

Taking responsibility:

You, as a patient, need to take responsibility to ensure your personal health information is available in a medical emergency.  You need to maintain a record of this information to share with medical providers, whether it be a routine checkup with your physician or a medical emergency situation.

A simple solution: 

Emergi-Tube and QuickStart ePHR

A personal health record (PHR) can be used to keep track of your personal health information and protect you in an emergency.  A simple PHR would  include medical conditions, allergies, a list of prescription medications along and emergency contact information.

Products like Emergi-Tube and QuickStart ePHR work together, making it easy to keep a record of your health information. With the QuickStart ePHR you can enter your personal health information and print forms to share with your physician. You can edit, update and save information on your computer or USB memory device. As you enter the information into the PHR form it automatically saves your health information and allows you to print a wallet identification card to carry at all times.

Emergi-Tube is a lightweight, water resistant storage device to hold your printed health records and USB memory device.  Designed to be visible in the home, it’s ‘grab and go’ feature allow you to take your records with you if evacuated or just on the go. Additional tubes are ideal for in your car or suitcase when traveling.

For more information on Emergi-Tube and QuickStart personal health records visit www.HealthRecordResources.com or email your contact information to info@HealthRecordResources.com for assistance.

(pharmacist affiliate program available now!)

http://healthrecordresources.com/pharmacists_affiliate.php

 

Personal Health Records for Emergency Preparedness

An emergency Personal Health Record (PHR) should be your family’s first priority in your emergency preparedness plan.

Disaster can strike with little or no warning, giving us little or no time to prepare.  Floods, hurricanes, fire, earthquakes or other natural disasters all pose serious concerns.  How well we prepare ourselves in advance of disaster will be determine the extent of how our needs are met.

As witnessed in recent years, natural disasters or emergency situations can occur anywhere at anytime.

In the wake of Hurrican Katrina in 2005, Americans witnessed just how fragile paper based health record systems really are.  Public health and medical response personnel were faced with the challenge of meeting the health care needs of the victims of Katrina.  Meeting the immediate medical needs of the injured or those with chronic conditions without access to their medical records was one of the greatest challenges.  Trying to care for the thousands who were displaced by the hurricane was hampered by the loss of access to their medical records as well.

Prepare your family for possible emergencies or natural disasters.  To learn more about preparing an emergency personal health record PHR click here or view this prezi  —

Why You Should Start a Personal Health Record

 

 

I Know You Know… (Real world PHR applications II)

I know that you know someone in a situation similar to the following scenario.  Everybody does.   It could be one of your parents, grandparents or maybe the parent of someone you know.  Perhaps you are the primary caregiver for someone in a similar situation.  If you are a health care practitioner I am sure you see patients like this every day. 

This is the story of “Earl” and the personal health record (PHR).  Of course the names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. 

Subject:   87 y.o. white male Caucasian, hypertension, pacemaker, dementia/Alzheimer’s, history of strokes and multiple hip replacements, multiple medications, etc., etc.

History:   Earl still lives on the farm that he has worked for 60+ years of his life.  His wife passed away several years ago.  Earl lives alone except for the cats in the barn that he feeds twice daily.  His family members live nearby and check on Earl several times daily, bringing dinner to his house each evening. 

One sunny spring afternoon recently Earl decided to take a walk down the lane on the farm.  On his way back to the house Earl got tripped up in some rough grass and fell.  Earl was unable to get himself up and lay face down on the grass, his forehead bleeding from where his head hit the ground.  He tried to use his emergency alert button but he was out of range of the receiver connected to the phone in the house.  His repeated attempts to get himself up were fruitless and exhausting.  Earl lay helpless waiting for someone to find him. 

It was over an hour before one of Earl’s family members brought dinner to the house.  After searching the house and barn for Earl he was finally found down the lane.  After a 911 call was placed the EMS personnel arrived with the ambulance to transport Earl to the hospital.  After getting him in the ambulance the EMTs asked what medications Earl was taking… 

A few months earlier, one of Earl’s family members had prepared an emergency personal health record for him.  It was placed in the Emergi-Tube on the side of the refrigerator.  The information was retrieved from the Emergi-Tube and given to the EMTs and taken with Earl to the hospital.  The information was helpful in the emergency room as it not only contained information about Earl’s medications but also a brief outline of his medical conditions, allergies and other pertinent medical information. 

Earl was released from the hospital the next day, a little sore but happy to be home with his cats again.  The information provided on the emergency PHR was helpful to those medical personnel caring for him.  Having this information readily available ensured that the ER and hospital staff were able to continue Earl’s medications properly during his stay. 

We should be encouraging people to learn about PHRs and how to use them to protect themselves and their loved ones.  The use of a PHR will help protect them in the event of an emergency, help decrease the incidence of medication errors, allergic reactions and improve communications with physicians and clinicians.   More importantly, the use of a PHR will empower patients to better monitor and control their medical conditions and improve their overall level of health. 

If you are interested in learning more about personal health records visit:  

http://www.healthrecordresources.com/index.php