The USB/flash drive devices would be much more practical for storing data that might be needed after being evacuated than they will ever be for an emergent medical situation.

I'm with Pete, if I have an unresponsive patient the last thing I'm gonna do is start looking for their flash drive to see if it can diagnose the problem for me.

You're gonna get appropriate treatment on the scene and if warranted, you'll be getting a ride to the hospital where you can show off your thumb drives, your BIOS, your tattoos, your cell phone, your whatever to your heart's content.

I have a dogtag on my keyring with allergy and emergency contact phone numbers. It has my allergy, wife's allergy and 2 phone numbers. Bright red, medic alert symbol/caduceus on back.
She carries same.

That may go unnoticed on your keyring. Normally, your keyring isn't something that often gets looked at in an emergency by medical folks. A LEO or tow truck operator might notice it, or you could get lucky if the distinctive color or symbol catches someone's eye.

But if you don't have a major medical problem to worry about, it might come in handy. Do you sometimes leave your wallet but always carry your keys? I do that myself occasionally.

To keep beating a dead zombie here, 'cause I like beating dead zombies, the best flat out method is having someone you know with you. Next is a med-alert bracelet bracelet of some kind. I use a RoadID, currently the wrist elite, its like a thick liveSTRONG bracelet with a steel med alert tag on it. (YMMV) but it is the most comfortable and noticeable I have worn and I wear it daily.

Hey Jeff-

Should have quantified that- both my keyring and my wife's are not used in the ignition, rather, her's is in her purse, attached to her wallet, and mine always lays on the floor or in the drink holder.

So hopefully, even upside down, it would be somewhere near and obvious.

I did this since I am also not a jewelry wearer but felt that since both of our allergies are life threatening (penicillin and latex, respectively) they should be accessible in some fashion.

amen, brother. I learned this at a meeting, when hearing a sound like a ripe melon hitting a tree, I looked up to see my assistant and very good friend in the throes of a grand mal seizure.

When the paramedic arrived, he surveyed the scene and made a very appropriate conclusion - "Ah, forgot to take your medication, I see."

My friend was comatose and I piped up "I've worked with Joe on a daily basis for the past two years, and this is unprecedented. We need to get to the ER." Which we did.

Even there I was able to provide all kinds of information, and contact Joe's wife, etc. etc (we were way out of town).

I have had to handle unresponsive victims and that feature alone makes it a whole lot more challenging. If you have a medical situation, follow the advice of the experienced medical professionals already given here and wear a device on your person - make it easy for the practitioner who will have your life in his/her hands.

These should be on your person, not sitting in the cup holder or in your wife’s purse attached to her wallet. Wear them, wear them, wear them- enough said.

Pete

Road ID is not jewelry.

If I had a life threatening allergy I wouldn't keep a notice of it anywhere but on my person.

You guys who keep trying to reinvent the wheel seem to have a tiny problem with reading comprehension, at least 2 people here who work in EMS have written numerous times what we look for and what we don't look for when confronted with an unresponsive patient. EMS providers are not, for the most part, going to change their procedures or their TX protocols because an individual uses what they think is a neat method of medical ID.

If you have a life threatening condition/allergy, use the methods to notify EMS personnel that already work or run the risks of not having your information shared as needed, it's really that simple.

Yikes, hit a nerve, eh?

Sorry, not an EMT, and I'm certainly not privy to their "established protocols", in fact, I assumed that was why the original question was asked.

Take a deep breath, just mentioning what I do, not trying to start a movement.