|
|
|
Aromatherapy And Essential Oils - The Basics
Copyright 2005 Donovan Baldwin
Aromatherapy is the use of oils extracted from various,
primarily fragrant, plants to aid in the relief of a range of
physical or mental discomforts or illnesses. These oils,
commonly referred to as "essential...
Depression symptoms and medication
Depression is considered one of the evils that plague our modern society. Identifying early depression symptoms and finding appropriate medication is imperative - find out more by reading the following article:
Difficult to diagnose with...
Herbal medicine for cold
Many people on the hunt for nutritional supplements are concerned about what kind of herbal medicine for cold sicknesses are offered. From the period of November until March, cold season sets in and it can really ruin your day. While there isn't too...
How To Jump Rope For Health and Fitness
REQUIREMENTS FOR REPRINT: You have permission to publish this article free of charge in your e-zine, newsletter, ebook, print publication or on your website ONLY if it remains unchanged and you include the copyright and author information (Resource...
Multivitamins Help Reduce Risk Of Infection In Diabetes
(NC)—While many people take multivitamins to promote good health and to help reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer, new research shows that a daily multivitamin supplement may also help to optimize the health of...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maintaining Up To Date Medical Records
Maintaining Up To Date Medical Records
and Emergency Information
Do you know what information you need in a medical
emergency?
Being prepared can make a life saving difference in an
emergency situation.
Who needs to keep their information available and updated?
Actually, all of us should but very few do. However for
those at risk, such as seniors, people with chronic illness,
serious allergies or medication complications, special needs
children and anyone traveling away from home it is something
that should not be overlooked. Children should also have the
proper medical information on them at all times if they have a
medical condition or serious allergy.
"In a medical emergency, you might be unconscious or unable
to speak for yourself," said Alfred Sacchetti, MD, of the
American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). "That's why
it's so important to make sure that medical personnel have
access to your medical history, as well as relevant contact
information. For example, knowing what medications you are
taking could prevent severe drug interactions, and knowing what
allergies you have could prevent serious reactions."
Millions of Americans have medical conditions which should be
immediately known to Emergency Personnel.
Diabetes (over 13 million), diagnosed heart disease (23
million), alzheimers, transplant surgery, patient's currently on
blood thinners such as Coumadin, epilepsy, asthma, severe
allergies, cancer patients and medication allergies such as
penicillin and other antibiotics are all conditions that should
be brought to the attention of emergency personnel.
Additionally, many of us are reasonably health but getting older
(36 million people age 65 and over) and our list of medications
continue to grow with the years. With over 110 million emergency
room visits a year, your emergency information may actually be
the most important information of your life.
What information should be maintained?
Here are just some of the things recommended by Edward
Stettner, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory
University Atlanta, GA and other healthcare professionals.
Medical history - Chronic medical conditions
Medications - Including over-the-counter
Allergies - Medications and foods
Surgical history - Include the date, hospital and surgeon
Private physician - Include primary care as well as specialists
Emergency contacts - Multiple contacts with alternate numbers
Miscellaneous - Include advance directives, specific dietary
needs, or any other important information.
How can you keep your information available and up to date?
Today you have many options that allow you to have your
emergency information available. Which one you choose should be
based on your personal needs and risk factors. The "Vial of
Life" program is a free program designed for seniors and
individuals with serious medical conditions. It provides medical
information to emergency personnel who respond to and treat home
emergencies. The "Vial of Life"
contains much of the medical
information needed by emergency personnel, such as existing
medical conditions, allergies, medication currently being taken,
and emergency contact information. Medical history and emergency
information forms are also available on-line from the Mayo
Clinic and the American Medical Association. The American
Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency
Physicians have also created an Emergency Information Form (EIF)
for parents of children with special health care needs.
There are also a number of monitoring services available that
will maintain your information for you and provide in home alert
devices that will dispatch emergency services if the need
arises. These are all good solutions for the home but do not
provide coverage when you are away from the house.
As a minimum, anyone with an existing medical condition or that
has special emergency needs should wear some type of medical ID
to alert medics to their situation.
So how do you carry all that information around with you?
Digital technology allows a very large amount of information
to be stored on surprisingly small devices. MedicTag LLC has
adapted this technology to produce an emergency information
device that fits on a keyring. The device is simple to use and
works with your desktop or laptop computer. You can fill out the
information form and make changes whenever necessary, always
keeping your emergency information up to date. Emergency
responders on site with a laptop or at the emergency room can
have instant access to your vital information, even if you are
unconscious, allowing them to diagnose and properly treat you
with as little delay as possible.
Do you need to have your emergency information available?
For most of us the answer is probably yes. If not you, how
about a child, parent or other loved one in your family?
Considering the possible life saving benefits, it is something
that we should seriously consider, for safety and security that
affects the whole family.
Edward Ricci is the founder and COO of MedicTag LLC.
Additional resources and references:
Vial of Life
MedicTag LLC
American
Academy of Pediatrics
The Mayo Clinic
US Dept. of
Health and Human Services
American College of
Emergency Physicians
The
American Medical Association
About the author:
Mr. Ricci is the founder of MedicTag LLC. He originally invented
the MedicTag emergency medical information device for his
elderly mother. Mr. Ricci has 20 years experience in the
aerospace industry and quality control.
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|