“With people traveling domestically and internationally now more than ever, you never know where your patients will be when they become ill,” said Dr. Chirayu Shah, a third-year resident in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. “When these patients go to the hospital in a different city, their medical record usually does not follow them.”
As a resident, Dr. Shah spends a lot of time in the emergency department. He said that when patients come in, they often mention a preexisting condition but do not have specifics.
Dr. Shah, therefore, suggests that physicians get small, fold-over business cards on which they could print a list of a patient's current diagnoses and medications. The patient could carry the card in his or her wallet.
The cards would be updated once a year, or more often if necessary. On the outside, the card would say “confidential,” and on the inside, the text would include the primary physician's name and telephone number, the date it was printed, and a disclaimer saying that all information should be verified.
In the emergency department, physicians see patients with chest pain who are not exactly sure of their medical history and who may be on warfarin or clopidogrel. They see patients who take a medication but are not sure what it is called—just that it is a square green pill, for example. They see patients who are on pain medications and are obtundent when they come in. “They always say, 'Oh, they told me I have some problem with my kidneys,'” Dr. Shah said. “That helps a little bit, but not much.
“The ER physician has to rely on the patient for accurate medical information, which can often be problematic,” he added. “These cards would prove invaluable to ER physicians or even consult physicians.”