I ran across this $30 purpose-built USB memory stick in one of my motorcycle groups: www.traveler-er.com

It's a smallish (64 MB) USB drive with some software to enter your medical data and enables you to encrypt the data. It also has an printable output that seeks to present medical personnel with your information in a familiar accessible format.

They say:
Traveler-ER allows you to securely store:
•Personal Information
•Medical History
•Emergency Contact Information
•Contact Information for your primary care physician and other doctors
•Health Insurance Information
•Family Medical History
•Information about your Travel History"

Another interesting aspect is that they include a wallet card that points medical personnel to your USB device.

Currently I don't carry this type of data for me and mine. I have some text files in no particular format on my laptop which I don't even replicate on my Blackberry. I clearly need to develop a strategy.

This forum has so many knowledgeable experts and experienced first responders that I thought I would ask:
What is your current strategy for carrying your (and family's) medical history?
Is an electronic approach viable?
What do you think of this device or one like it?
Is there an open-source and freely available solution for carrying electronic medical history data out there?

Overall, I like the approach they've taken but would be interested in an open-source format that I could migrate onto other perhaps more hardened USB drives and into other formats as memory standards evolve. The reservation I would have is does the solution present information to medical personnel in an accessible way considering you might be unable to communicate.

Thanks in advance for your comments here on Ritter University!

- Andy

You could use a normal (read cheaper) flash drive and encrypt the data yourself, but really, does it need to be encrypted? I can't think of a reason to encrypt my medical records or contact info.

Contact info is in your phone not encrypted so that's not a big deal.

Health insurance.. normally in your wallet not encrypted or encoded, nothing special there.

I think an normal flash drive will store all the stuff you want.

As far as being able to print, just store the data in PDF file formats or .TXT those are WIDELY viewable by the largest % of people on the planet.

My initial concern with the Traveler-ER product is the hardware they've chosen to use. It is a fairly common USB drive, unfortunately one that won't securely attach to anything. The key ring attachment on those drives is very flimsy (I broke one after a day or two of key chain carry). This leaves you with having to keep it tucked away in a pocket or somewhere else out-of-site which, I think, would reduce the likelihood of it being found and used in the case of an emergency.

A better solution, at least from the hardware perspective, would seem to be UTAG's ICE products. I would think the wearable options would be the best since they are similar to existing medical products (i.e., Medic Alert).

I can't really talk to well these electronic medical record systems work, but would be somewhat concerned about how portable the data really is (I don't know what kind of machines hospitals & medical clinics would commonly be using).

Ok, first off, a USb drive is not a memory stick. If you send someone into a computer store asking for a memory stick chances are they will walk out with a Sony Memory Stick and it won't be of much use for them, be careful re-using an existing term.

Second, what happens if the ER doesn't have any way or policy forbids installing any software. If I were in charge of IT for any hospitar or first response team I wouldn't let people plug in USB drives and install software, the risk is just too great.

Third what happens 3-4 years or even longer down the road the software is not supported how do you get your data back out? I was in that situation before, programs like TaxAct, Microsoft Money, Microsoft Publisher, etc. Old versions get discontinued and the new versio won't import the old data so you end up having to install the old version on an old os on a dedicated system.

This has come up before. I think the consensus was that:

In an emergency, the ER isn't going to mess with anything like this. The will look for a medical bracelet, but that is about it. Also in an emergency, they don't need a lot of details, just the high level stuff like your Dr.'s contact info, meds you are on, drug allergies, and serious existing conditions. This information needs to be easily accessible -- not encrypted, no need for special programs, etc. Probably also means no computer/pda. Basically, what you need is a medical bracelet. :-)

If it isn't an emergency, they probably still aren't going to mess with it. It would be up to you to provide the information. If this type of device is handy for you in that context, great.

Note there is a good free encryption program called Truecrypt which you could use to encrypt any USB type drive, and it does have a "portable" mode which you can run the program from the USB drive itself.

Personally, I think it is helpful to have various personal data in a portable mechanism. I also think it is important to encrypt said data. This also goes for sensitive data on your home personal computer or laptop. Encryption is your friend! (Backups are your friend too!)

I do have a number of USB drives which I keep encrypted, but for data I really want to have with me I save it in an encrypted program on my iPod Touch (eWallet, which allows you to sync to your PC) since I have that with me and it is self contained (no external PC needed).

Note, when encrypting data on a thumb drive, consider partitioning the drive into an encrypted partition, and a non-encrypted partition and keep a copy of the encryption software on the non-encrypted partition. And remember, bigger is better. This stuff is cheap, why skimp? You should be able to pick up a 4GB stick for ~$20 at your local office store or electronics store. Considering the possibility you might break it, get two!

Encrypted USB drives allow you to have large amounts of easily transportable encrypted data (think backups of all your important data from your PC). But something like encrypted files on a PDA or similar might be a bit easier to have important data at your fingertips.

YMMV.

-john

Is there software that you can get to put on your own USB drive?

Best bet: Plain metal bracelet with prominent colored "medical" symbol (red or blue swiss cross, star of life or caduceus), that doesn't look like jewelry, worn on the left wrist (since most US pre-hospiital IV's are started in the left arm, and American ambulance designs usually allow more working room on the patient's left side, it is more likely to be quickly noticed there).

All it really needs to contain are your main medical conditions or allergies, but the details should be in an easy to find location in your wallet or purse, usually immediately in front of or behind your driver's license, clearly labeled on the outside, on both sides, as "medical info" or some such, and not just some folded up scrap of paper.

A red dog tag is fairly noticeable, too, while also protecting your privacy. Sorry, but I won't be plugging any unknown usb drives into the ambulance's computer, although such a device can be tremendously useful to the patient in managing and documenting their own care.

Lastly, don't worry overmuch. The paramedics typically check things such as blood glucose routinely on any patient with altered mentation, and won't miss a diabetes related condition. Also, they should be able to recognize and effectively manage any life-threatening allergic or adverse reactions.

However, a cop or bystander might mistake a low-glucose diabetic for a drunk, or you may be in an area without advanced life support ambulance service, and, of course, the earlier we know about your condition, the better. So if you need a medical alert, wear it all the time, even t home. It does help.

Here's pretty much everything I want to know from every patient, beyond information about the current complaint:

Many prudent or experienced patients keep this information on their computer for easy updating, with printed copies to carry, give to family members, new doctors, etc. Be sure to include a "current as of __" date. I fraking love it when a patient or family member whips out one of these and hands it to me.

full legal name, and any aliases, former or nicknames that might be used on older medical or insurance records
address, permanent and current temporary local for "snowbirds" and long term visitors
telephone number(s)
date of birth
SSN
emergency contact or legal guardian/health care surrogate name, address, telephone number
full name, address, and contact information of your primary care physician and key specialists
list of all current, recurrent or chronic medical conditions
list of all current or frequently used medications, including prescription, OTC and herbal (the latter two can be very significant)
list of all medical and food allergies or adverse reactions
list of all prior surgeries, hospitalizations and major illnesses or injuries
all medical insurance, Medicare or Medicaid information (photocopy of both sides of card preferred)
If incident is job related - name, address and contact phone number of employer and/or worker's comp carrier

Jeff: What do you think of this? Going on trip back east and want to carry my medical information with me.
http://www.americanmedical-id.com/market...utm_term=0D4J03

I cycle quite a bit, and all I do is use a 2" x 4" label, print the pertinent info on it, apply it to the back of my license, and put a piece of clear tape over it to protect the writitng. nothin' fancy, but has all the info on something I already carry.

Another option that I've been looking into: http://www.roadid.com

The Road ID interactive in particular.

+1 roadid. I own two of them for my ankle, one black, one red form when I am training outdoors. i am buying the wrist one next for backcountry as I wear long pants for that.

Jeff hit it on the head. I would never stick a USB into the computer on my ambulance (back when I was in the field), even if the computer DID have a USB. Which I don't think it did.

And nowadays, I sure wouldn't stick it onto my hospital computer! No way. I don't care what fancy packaging it came in.

Dog tag, ID bracelet, or wallet card. That's it. If I can't Xerox it and throw it onto your chart, it's no good.

For all the gee-whiz crowd out there, if you want something electronic, there are some things that you can keep your info online, and the bracelet directs the provider to either a website or phone number. That might be a better option, though it still depends on someone sitting down and killing time waiting for the info.

Jeff/MDinana, How about using a POCKETMOD? Appropriately labeled it may be useful.

I have a template I used for my master tool bucket list. I'll try to use it to put one together over the next day or two.

Purpose-designed USBs have a place, but not for conveying emergency medical information to EMS and ER personnel. Few of these devices convey any info at all without plugging them in first.

The problem is that both security protocols and practical considerations usually prevent the installation of unknown USB devices into our computers during the course of rendering emergency care. However, they are a great way to keep your medical records together, portable and with you.

Cool idea, but not something that's particularly easy to photocopy and insert into your chart. Still, I like it!

I did some dinking around with Word. In Word you can make a 2x4 table. Set your margins for whatever your printer allows for minimum. Align the text in the boxes so it is left-justified and "headed" at the center line. It will be sideways. Depending on how you fold your PM will determine how you set-up your page sequencing. When you print it out, cut off the excess margin and fold as normal. It will be a touch smaller, more wallet friendly, than normal. It can be unfolded to copy. Not easy to read, but it is there. Good luck.

Ditto. With the added info that in the field, someone with bloody gloves probably doesn't want to be fiddling with a keyboard. And in the hospital, there's never a free computer when you need it (docs, rn's, and the clerks all need one. Usually there's 2 or some ungodly small number free to work with).

My faves? Medicalert bracelet that directs you to a phone number (and usually has the important stuff, like med allergies and life-threatening medical conditions), a folded up paper or purpose-built card in a wallet, or worst case, a tattoo

When I get old, DNR in big bold font is going on my sternum.

No ER is going to load your USB drive into their computer system.

Not. Gonna. Happen.


If you really want to convey emergency info to any ER, try this, but no guarantees


Set up website
Put info you want to share with docs, etc etc
Password protect it
Put web address, password and instructions on medic alert bracelet or dog tag.
Hope for the best.

Ahh, the tattoo.

Just before deploying for Desert Storm, several of my soldiers went to the tattoo shop and had their dog tag info put on their chests. When I asked why, their reasoning was that if they were blown apart the dog tags might get lost making them difficult to ID.

My only response was, "You guys have obviously never viewed a charred corpse or a body that has been dead and exposed to the environment for a while, right?"

They later understood what I was talking about after seeing the "Highway of Death".

As others have said, it's not likely to be useful to medics when you are unconscious. However, it might be useful to you if you are conscious, and it has stuff you can't remember. If some kind of disaster strikes while you happen to be on the road, and you become a de-facto refugee, then there's a lot of information relating to who you are, what you can do, and what assets you own, that can be valuable. The sort of stuff you would want to have on you if you were bugging out.

O.K. How about this?
http://www.americanmedical-id.com/extras/product_walletcard.php

MUCH better. It'll be found eventually, plus you can whip it out at an appointment and show the doc.

Thank you all for your valuable insights. I travel for business quite a bit, motorcycle and backpack often, activities which require me to lighten carrying as much as possible. I want to be prepared for medical care in case its needed.

I do have a Road ID bracelet with name, town/state/country, wife phone, son phone, brother phone. I figure that takes care of "who the heck is this unconscious body and who can we call to notify?". I agree the Road ID is great. I didn't go for the interactive web version, more on that later.

Beyond that I also carry a wallet card with all of the above plus more contact phone numbers, SS#, Drivers Lic #, Passport #, blood type, allergies, last shots, GP doctor names.

My intent was not so much for critical emergency use information, but for the types of detail that Jeff_M pointed out - fuller personal data, DOB, all relevant medical professionals, background on medical conditions and past operations, all current meds including scrips, OTC, herbal; insurance carrier detail, etc. After raising two kids and being married for quite a few years, I've spent my time in ERs and doctors offices trying to remember all the relevant data not just for me but also family members.

That's why I was thinking an USB memory device could be an option. However, after seeing some of the posts and doing some web research I agree that expecting medical personnel to put a foreign device into their computer is not realistic. I even found a government study on personal health records that came to the same conclusion. It makes sense in the age we live in - no IT administrator will reasonably allow unknown patients to plug a unsecured device into their system.

Personally, I find paper impractical. I could carry it on business trips but I know it won't reliably make it on motorcycle rides and backpacking.

That brings us to the evil web. I checked out Google Health when it was first released and decided no way was I going to put my health information on the web. During this discussion I looked again at Google and several other free and paid services. I decided to give Google Health a try and see how it feels.It has a pretty nice interface and you can enter your typical stuff - age, height, meds, vitamins, conditions, allergies, test results, medical professionals, insurance companies, etc. It has some interesting features like drug interactions based on your entries - it flagged my fish oil and flaxseed oil as potentially too much Vit E. It also lets you import your prescription history from CVS, MedCo, Walgreens, and others. Also as expected it's full of links to info on conditions, finding doctors. It will prepare a PDF report of you information suitable to hand to Jeff_M at the hospital.

Another feature I like is that it lets you upload additional files and images to your account. In my case I uploaded an additional document to hand to Jeff_M with detail not included in the generated PDF. I also uploaded scans of my health/dental insurance cards (yes both sides), my blood donor card, organ donation card, advanced directive, some recent medical test results, and images/history of some hardware I have in my shoulder from long ago.

All in all, I like Google Health. For me, it is more likely to be updated than paper. It is information rich. I can print out a current report before I go somewhere. More importantly, being web based I believe it is more likely that I and medical personnel will be able to access it at the Point Of Care if need be.

The bad? Yes, it's on the web, and in the hands of a mega-corporation. Believe me I read quite a bit before I used it. I think it is secure now, but who's to say what can happen to your data in the future. Will your data be sold at some point? Can it be hacked into? I don't have any medical conditions that could cause problems with insurability, but I know folks who do. Should they trust a web based personal health record?

Anyway for now, that's what I'm going with. I appreciate all your wisdom and look forward to any comments. Life is for learning.

- Andy