Remember though there is no gaurentee that hotmail or gmail will still have your files when you need it. A lot of people assue their stuff is safe there, but when they have a server crash your files are gone.
It happened to me with hotmail a few years ago.

I read an article recently about a computer security company that did a security audit for a customer. One of the things they did was hand out Free! Take One! usb drives loaded with various forms of malware to employees as they walked in the door in the morning. By that afternoon they had passwords, banking info, payroll info, etc.

In my hospital, all usb ports/floppy drives/cd drives are all disabled.

We have to pull teeth, drizzle holy water, and dance 'round three times to get access to our cd-rom based service manuals....

My first thought about the ZapTag was...how in the heck would our ER look at one??

And that is exactly why most places using USB is either forbidden or disabled. With the majority of the machines out there running Windows its just too dangerous to be sticking USB falsh drives in from unknown sources.

Points noted re the functionability of the product in the US, thanks for the feedback.

Would also welcome thoughts on the product in a non emergency situation. In the UK, the present NHS system means that only a patients family GP has access to their records - there is no centralised system. From personal experience it takes around 2 months before a new practice obtains a new patients records. Also, I have expereinced several occasions when the need has arisen to visit a GP other than my own, having details of my past history and medication would no doubt been of use to the practiioner but also put my mind at ease that they were treating me with a more informed outlook on my history etc.

All feedback is much appreciated. In a perfect world the ideal would no doubt be - 100% secure, centralised patient data - accessible to all medical personnel. However, the cost of this for the Greater London area in the UK alone is phenonemal and the likelihood of that happening at any point within the next 10 years (minimum)- highly unlikely. What we are working towards is improving the situaiton from what it is now. When the creases are ironed out I would be surprised if anoyone who deals in emergency situaitons would not be grateful for as much information about their patients as is possible.

As part of your advertising promo over there in London, why don't you BUY each hospital a cheap PC to be used for nothing but reading your devices? They wouldn't hook it up to their network or anything. Use it for no other purpose than your USB device reading. You need very little PC horsepower to do this. A slow processor, minimal memory, no harddrive even. Boot with a Linux LiveCD. You should be able to buy such a minimal PC for only a few hundred dollars ($300) in the US, I don't know what UK prices would be. Even some old anchient used thing would meet your needs processing-wise (you probably would want USB2 ports though).

As you probably guessed, I'm an engineer and suggest "some old anchient used thing" based on a functionality analysis. Such a device may be perfectly workable, but not esthetically compatible with the corporate image you want to present.

I agree... the price seems high, the value dubious for emergency purposes (though perhaps not for LT healthcare), and the security both for the patient and for any facility accepting unknown 3rd party memory sticks seems a large mountain to climb. Is there a market for this?

Anyway, for my own EDC/Emergency carry of data, I use this:
1GB] SD/USB card


It's thin enough to store in a wallet or PSK and has a built in USB connector, so it's useful in PocketPCs, Cameras, and Just about any modern computer. There is no easily lost adapter or cap like a USB Memory Keyfob. About the only downside is that it's not something you can attach to your keychain. It *does* however come with a slick little case that protects it and allows just that, but it increases the bulk quite a bit.

In short +++ungood. Pre-hospital care notifications are best handled by human-readable systems (read: Medic-Alert tags, Tatoos). I have NEVER seen a laptop pulled out by a medic on a call, and to be blunt, when your arms are off, we don't care if you're allergic to peanuts - WE'RE NOT SERVING MEALS OUT THERE!!!!

Now, let's cut on the technology in general:

1.From the site:
"Zaptag is a small rugged and water resistant USB drive powered by Sandisk USA. Zaptag incorporates Windows-compatible software that enables you to create personal records that can be accessed in times of emergency." Wait a minute - this is a Sandisk Cruzer Micro wrapped in plastic. My Cruzer micro has been through the wash as often as my socks. And the cruiser micro is like $10 for a small capacity one.

2. "The drive itself is extremely rugged and can be submerged in water up to 4ft, making it the ultimate travellers companion."
FOUR feet? Umm....no thanks. I want something that will survive at least the freaking water park, not to mention ditching over water!

3. WHAT medical records? Sorry, but I've seen my medical records for the last 10 years - it's a file folder. In a few places I've had medical records created that were electronic -most recently when I broke my wrist the X-Ray was a digital file - BUT when it came time to see the osteopath, they were not able to send him the digial image file - I got a print.

Look, I'm just as geeky as the next person, but the fact is that some things just might be impossible to digitize because of the necessary decades long double work of making human and machine readable records available at the same time.

I know of no hospital environment that allows ANY software to open/run other than the approved set of applications. I think this is one of those "meals in a pill" egghead ideas that pays no mind to the reality of how humans interact (both for good and evil ends) and how large, interoperable data systems need to work.

On the plus side, the Zaptag is a contact read device. That's good and better than any RFID or Bluetooth implementation. But on the minus side, you have a READ/WRITE device that you want IT directors to allow on their networks. Not going to happen with data security fears.

Look I'd love ot have transportable records, however in a heterogeneous IT environment, coupled with sensitivities about privacy and so forth, you're going to have serious challenges that might not be worth fighting.

On the other hand, if you also offered - for Free - Zaptag reader software that you were willing to develop as an open-source product so that IT directors would add Zaptag as a "trusted" application you might be getting somewhere. better still would be a way to work with a hardware vendor to create a zaptag reader that's nothing more than a USB card reader with a serialized rom that will only read zaptag data - and nothing else.

But in the end, I'm not sure how I'd even GET my medical records from the doctor - they are all handwritten notes over the last 10 years at this one practice.

And, to be a bit harsh about it, I know enough about computers and data securty to be sure I never, ever, ever want some parts of my life digitized. Once you digitize, you loose all control of your information.

More interesting points on how Zaptag would function in the US, however a few inaccuracies in this post...

[/I] Wait a minute - this is a Sandisk Cruzer Micro wrapped in plastic'. - It is not a Sandisk Crizer wrapped in plastic. The Sandisk Waterproof was specially developed for the storage of medical records and is currently the USB of choice of the US military. See link...
http://www.sandisk.com/Oem/Default.aspx?CatID=1031

2. "The drive itself is extremely rugged and can be submerged in water up to 4ft, making it the ultimate travellers companion."
FOUR feet? Umm....no thanks. I want something that will survive at least the freaking water park, not to mention ditching over water!
- according to Sandisk it is the most waterproof drive on the market - and they make them! It conforms to IEC 60529 IPX8 (to 4 feet/1.2 meters), which the Cruzer does not, and in reality can no doubt withstand much more.

Point 3 is v intersting to hear re. records in the US. In the UK, within the NHS - all patient records are now electronic.

Having worked within the UK NHS I have no doubt that electronic was the right step forward. We used to recieve PHOTCOPIES of patients referrals and FULL MEDICAL RECORDS via unsecured fax lines, by Royal Mail post and left on the doorstep of our triage centre!

It is therefore not impossible to digitize patient records. I would say the major down side of the system is that it is not centralised and critical information accessible to A&E depts etc for use in an emergency.

This is where we forsee Zaptag coming into play; bridging that gap. There are obviously many differences between the US and Uk systems which are very interesting to hear about; all feedback much appreciated!