Among the first things to be checked on an unresponsive patient are vital signs, including feeling for pulse rate and quality at either the neck or wrist, and soon thereafter a blood pressure will be taken on the arm, and probably ECG electrodes attached to the exposed chest. So, yes, they are likely to be noticed during initial assessment and early interventions.

Keep in mind, however, that the presence or absence of medical alert information is probably not going to alter the assessment or treatment a patient receives from paramedics or ER staff. For example, all unresponsive patients, not just known diabetics, are going to have their glucose checked as a matter of course. Also, we know that diabetics also have strokes, heart attacks, drug overdoses, etc., so all potential causes for unresponsiveness still must be considered, even if we know the patient is diabetic.

One additional benefit of medical alert jewelry particularly useful for diabetics is that it helps bystanders and police avoid mistaking a hypoglycemic episode for mere drunkenness, as sometimes happens.

I think the left wrist is the best place for medical alert jewelry, for the reason stated in my prior post, followed by a necklace. Personally, I wear a red "dog tag" with my basic ID, medical and ICE contact info on a beaded metal chain around my neck, that I got from a vendor on Amazon.

Wallets usually don't get checked early on, unless law enforcement on scene does it to help identify the patient. It's not an early priority, so it usually waits until after the patient has received assessment and any urgent treatment required, and it also looks bad to be seen rifling through a patients wallet or purse on-scene with an unconscious patient laying there and bystanders around.

Jeff - 30 years paramedic experience