Organization is something I have to constantly work towards. It does not come naturally to me. If left to my own devices I would be lost in a pile of paperwork searching furiously for things that have long since been thrown away. This is a common problem for lots of people, however when it comes to medical records this can quite serious problem.
Why Do You Need A Medical Library?
This is someone that everyone should have not just people with disabilities. However, more often than not people with disabilities have much more complicated medical history. So why do I need to keep track of this you may ask.
- Most benefits require proof that you have a disability. Such as assessment or doctor notes. Having these records on hand allows you to access these services more quickly.
- Helps new doctors get up to speed with your medical needs and provide better diagnosis.
- Avoids having to do repeat assessments and testing.
Pick A Spot:
Now we know why we need a medical library let move onto the how. Step one is easy. Pick one spot to store all of your records. This can be a digital location like an external hard drive, your computer or cloud based file storage like dropbox or google drive. You can also go old school with a simple filing cabinet and file folders. For the cloud based options you might have to worry about being hacked and that information getting out in the world, however most of those servers have back up systems to ensure your information is not lost. Also keeping it in a cloud based storage system means that you can get access to it anytime you have an internet connection. Keeping things saved as a your computer or filing cabinet can limit the extent of having your information get out to the world however there is a chance of the records being damaged or lost. Regardless of how where you store your records it is important to have at least one consistent place where you keep them.
What To Store:
I would recommend breaking things down into 3 major categories: Assessments, Medical Professionals, and Medications/Allergies.
Assessments/Testing:
These are any records of tests or assessments that document your health. These can be school psychiatrist assessments done when you were a child, X-rays records from the hospital, or any other documents from medical professional or institution. In addition to this I would also make a spreadsheet outlining the following information of each record:
- Date of Medical Test/Assessment
- Who Administered the Test/Assessment
- Organization/Hospital of record
- Results of Test/Assessment
- Contact Information to get a replacement copy.
- Date to be re-assessed or re-tested.
Medical Professionals
The term Medical Professional is a broad one. It covers family doctors, psychiatrist, psychologist, variety of therapist and more. Not only is it a good idea to keep a list of all of the medical professionals you are seeing but also make sure all of them are aware of each other. This way everyone is better coordinated with everyone else. In addition to having a list of names here are other things to record:
- Name of Medical Professional
- Type of Medical Professional
- Contact Information (address, phone number, email and fax)
- Hours in which they can be reached
- Frequency of appointments.
Medication:
It is very important to not only have a list of all the medications you are currently taking but also have them readily accessible. If you do decide to store your information at home I would also recommend having a written copy of the list in your wallet/purse. This way if anything happens to you outside doctors can know upfront what medications you are taking. Below are a list of things to keep track of:
- Name of Medication
- Dosage amount
- Frequency of dosage
- Starting date of first dosage.
- Allergies
Take Your Time:
Building your medical library will take time. If you are starting from scratch this is will take a while. Don’t try and do this all at once. Slowly build it up over time. Once you have built your medical library don’t forget to maintain it. You are growing and changing all the time, so you library also needs to grow to be accurate with your currently self.