It is vital that you carry a copy of your basic health records with you at all times. You never know when you will have to call 911 while shopping or doing other things. I suggest making a basic table in Microsoft Word (or other program). Include spaces for your medical diagnoses, your prior surgeries, your medications (include dosages and strength), your medication allergies, your emergency contact information, your health insurance carrier, your doctor's name/phone #, and your pharmacy. (Use both sides of the page if need be). Fold up your 'pocket medical record' and keep in in your purse at all times.

Hi Dr. Maria,

This is an excellent point! I manage a surgical practice and it is amazing the number of patients that do not know the name of their medication. They simply state that they take "a pink pill" or "a blue pill." This information is just too important to leave to guesswork.

How true! It is such a terrible shame that people are not taught how to be good patients. People literally die due to lack of basic patient skills that anyone could learn, if someone would just teach them. Medical personnel receive training in their respective fields, but the general public has been pretty much left to fend for themselves. After seeing these things day after day for over 10 years, I decided to develop an online school for patients. It is called, you guessed it, [color:"red"] PATIENT SCHOOL [/color] BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!