Can I Convince you to keep this Note in your Wallet?

Can I interest you in keeping an extra note in your wallet?
It is slightly bigger in dimensions than your average 1000 rupee note but I promise you, it can be a lot more valuable. No, it does not have the face of a Gandhi or a Washington upon it, I fear, though you are free to add your best drawing to it.

Would you like to see my note? Yes? First hear me out.

As per the most recent available statistics, 1 life is lost every 4 minutes in India due to road traffic accidents alone. Over half a million documented road traffic accidents took place last year.
These numbers do not include events like strokes, seizures, hypoglycemic episodes, allergic reactions, poisoning etc any of which could also render you unconscious. These scenarios can be scary even in a familiar environment. But away from the safety of your home or work place, you are left at the mercy of the rare species that is the good Samaritan to help get you to a hospital.



The problem for an emergency medicine doctor or a casualty medical officer is that he is given an unknown person with no clear history at all of the patient. The kind strangers who delivered you to the hospital too don't know your medical history. As doctors, we can save you during the golden hour if we know not just your immediate history but also your past medical history which includes
1) Your illnesses
2) Medication you are on currently
3) Allergies you may have.

This can be crucial because in addition to narrowing down the cause behind your ailment, it helps determine what drugs to use and what to avoid. And the honest-to-God truth is that we have lost lives because of lack of information. We have lost lives we could have saved had we known...


So do us a favour - print out the note below (OR just take a regular paper next to you right now), fill in those details and put it in your wallet.

I've made it in dimensions a tad larger than a Rs 1000/- note
so it should fit easily with a single fold

Nobody goes out of the house expecting to be rendered unconscious. But if such a situation occurs, you can help yourself by having your emergency contacts, ailments and medication history ready in your wallet should someone check when they try to identify you.

This happened last week. It just reminded me

of the need to publish this blogpost ASAP

Help yourself.
Help us help you.

Authors note:

A few more random thoughts:

•  Consider doing it for the elders in your family. It helps not just in case of an accident but also if they have to come to the hospital for something and cannot remember their medical history.
• Have you added an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number in your mobile? It helps if someone finds you unconscious and does not know the nicknames you have for your spouse or parents. Just re-add the contacts of the people you would want called in an emergency and add the word ICE beside their name. For example, my phone would show ICE Deepika Padukone & ICE Priyanka Chopra. (Now, if they would only give me their number to fill in the rest of that contact entry!)       
• For those of you who want to make better templates for your 'health note', here is the required data which you can 'copy and paste' instead of typing it down from the beginning.

My Health Information

Name:
Age:
Address:


In case of an emergency
Person to contact (Name/number/relation):
1)  


2)


My Ailments:




Current medication (Dosage):





I am allergic to:

THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME



One thing you learn as a doctor, in the end, it is the simplest things (like this DIY note) that can make the biggest difference. Anyway, be safe. Have a nice week.