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December 2007 Volume 1 #4
 Succession planning in support groups Personal health records: Survival tools DCA: Promising cancer treatment? WWPCC to World Cancer Congress • SUBSCRIBE • contact the editor • visit the cpcn website |
Personal health records: Survival tools  If you were to have a medical emergency, would your loved ones be able to provide the vital medical information necessary for your care? Does your wife know the proper names of all the drugs you are taking and the dates of your surgeries or other medical procedures? How about more detailed information, such as PSA test results, known allergies, immunization records, or the make and model number of assistive devices? If you are like most people, the answer to at least some of these questions is no. And that could be a problem.Kevin J. Leonard, a University of Toronto professor, knows that collecting and communicating his own personal health information saved his life. "Over the years, I have insisted on having access to my records (i.e., lab and test results, radiology reports). I know that active management of my health care has led me to where I am today, and I would not be here otherwise." Quick and easy access to personal health records is especially important for people with serious medical conditions or for those getting older. And---let's face it---prostate cancer is not only serious but also prevalent among men in that "getting older" category. CPCN suggests a practical and simple approach to getting your personal health information to those who need to know: 1) create a portable medical emergency record and 2) keep an organized and up-to-date personal medical history. Medical Emergency Record You may not be able to give medical information when an emergency arises, so make sure that your spouse or adult child or trusted friend knows where you have recorded this information. A medical emergency record should have at least the following: Your full name, date of birth, and health card number Often, your doctor's office or local hospital will organize records according to this information, so having it handy can save time in an emergency. Emergency contact name and telephone number This information is particularly important if you live alone. Include also how this person is connected to you. Doctors' names and telephone numbers With this information, emergency staff can usually get important medical records fairly quickly, as well as details about your health history. List of current medications and allergies This information is important too, as some drugs may affect the kinds of treatments that are safe or best for you. List all the medicines you take, how much you take, and how frequently you take each. Also list your allergies, especially if you are allergic to any medicine, such as penicillin, or to any substance that might be used in medical equipment, such as plastics, latex, or the adhesive used on surgical tape. Medical conditions and prior surgeries Of course, you should include prostate cancer here, but do not neglect to mention other medical problems such as diabetes, asthma, arthritis, or heart disease, if these apply. Also list past medical procedures (e.g., radical prostatectomy or cardiac bypass surgery) and when these occurred. Lifestyle information Do you smoke or use alcohol? Knowing this information is helpful because tobacco use can lead to pulmonary and cardiovascular complications after surgery and alcohol can interact with other drugs. Assistive devices Do you have an artificial urinary sphincter or perhaps a pacemaker? It is useful to list the make and model number of any of these sorts of devices, as well as when they were inserted and last tested. Advance directives (e.g., a "living will") and religious or personal beliefs Some people decide to outline their decisions about health care in legal documents. In Canada, these documents are often referred to unofficially as "living wills," and they usually contain information about when to resuscitate or use life-support machines. A living will also names a person or a group to help interpret your health care decisions and make your wishes known to medical staff. (See how living wills are handled by Canadian provinces and territories in this excellent CBC article, "Living Wills: FAQs") Usually, a medical emergency record will list only the location of your "living will" and the name and contact information of the person responsible for seeing that your wishes are carried out. But if you have beliefs that prohibit the use of blood transfusions or other medical procedures, these should be outlined briefly. Health insurance If you have additional health coverage (e.g., the federal government's public service health care plan or a private policy), it is useful to list your insurer and your member number. Date of the document Indicate when your medical emergency record was completed or updated. It is very important to review your medical emergency record regularly and keep it current. Remember to revise your "living will" too, as today's extraordinary measures quickly become tomorrow's common practices when it comes to extending life. Keeping your record handy is just as important as keeping it up to date. Some men carry an abbreviated version in their wallets, some post it on the refrigerator door, and others create a grab-and-go file somewhere in the house. Also, make sure your emergency contact has a copy. Modern technology offers other options, such as a portable personal health record that fits on a key chain and plugs into any computer's USB port or a machine-readable medical record card. "I keep my own medical records, and, like everyone else here, I carry a card containing a chip," writes Tom Kilcourse from Europe. "If I am taken ill anywhere in France, that card will be fed into a doctor's computer to reveal details of my medication and health history." Whatever you decide, keep your medical emergency record current and handy. Medical History Keeping track of your personal medical history is one of the most significant things that you can do to help others care for your health effectively. And this means recording your family's medical history as well. This family history provides information about the health of blood relations, as well as their causes of death (if these are known). Especially important are the diseases or chronic conditions found in your family. In general, your medical history file should contain all of the information that is in your medical emergency record. But it usually provides more details. For example, your medical history file, like your medical emergency record, would list the dates and names of surgical procedures, but it might also contain operative reports, such as copies of biopsies performed, and give brief descriptions of your personal experience of these surgeries and your recovery. A very useful tool for men diagnosed with prostate cancer is the "Prostate Passport," which CPCN makes available as an insert in its publication Prostate Cancer: A Booklet for Patients. (For more information, click here.) The "passport" enables you to record information about treatments, health care appointments, test results, and medications. You can also write down questions and your doctors' answers or comments. It even includes a PSA tracking graph. And, believe it or not, recording information about your health is necessary because even memories that seem stamped indelibly on your brain can fade: "Even though it has been just six months now since my prostate surgery, ... it seems like a distant memory," writes Mike Stuckey. But with a written record of your fight again prostate cancer, you can pass on essential information about your specific responses to treatments---even ten or twenty years after you were first diagnosed ----and play an active and informed role in your own health care. |
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