Re: Family Medical History (((sort of long)))

[Guest guest]

Hi~~

Could not help but put my two cents in here.

When putting family (or personal) medical history together it is important

that when it is final someone can actually read and understand the information

that you have gathered.

For a family history... Write down each family member separately and if you

can do it chronologically that would be great too. This will serve to give the

whole picture in detail BUT.... REMEMBER....

SHORT BULLET POINT TYPE LISTS are invaluable too. Physicians, even research

physicians, love bullet points!

Personally, whenever I go anywhere I go armed with FOUR types of lists.

FIRST is a total picture... Chronological Birth to present listing:

Diagnosed illnesses, injuries, surgeries and medications taking for those

illnesses ALL DONE IN COLOR coding via a bullet format.

Yep!

If there is one thing and only one that I learned over 30 years of working

in/around/for/with healthcare providers it is that they love color graphs with

or without circles and arrows but always with bullet points.

My color coding:

GREEN for diagnosis

BLUE for injuries (no matter how minor)

RED for surgeries (no matter what they type)

The rest is done in BLACK.

***Be sure that you put a log on the TOP of each page

indicating what the colors stand for**

The other three lists are a break down of the first list.

-DIAGNOSED ILLNESSES with diagnosing physician and treating physician

presented in chronological order from birth to present.

-INJURIES AND SURGERIES presented in chronological order from birth to

present with treating surgeon and facility (no matter how minor the injury).

- MEDICATION list by diagnosis

Example:

PAIN:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken/used

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

MUSCLE SPASMS:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

DEPRESSION:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

IBS:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

-CONSTIPATION:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken/used

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

SLEEP DISTURBANCES:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

HYPOTENSION:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

ACNE VULGARS:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken/used

EXCESSIVE BRUISING:

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken/used

Drug (generic or brand) mg how it is taken/used

Yes!

Even something like vit C for bruising is VERY IMPORTANT to list.

Make sure that you put all medications including those that are over the

counter (They are drugs too!) in each category... This also includes HERBAL

SUPPLEMENTS, TEAS, POTIONS, ANYTHING THAT is made up of **natural*** or

synthetic

materials that you ingest or slather on/in your body!!! I CANNOT STRESS how

IMPORTANT this is to anyone looking at your history.

So there it is!

My secret to better communication with health care professionals, let the

paper do the talking for you! LOL!

I have to admit this is a whole bunch of work and I would never be able to do

it now but I have been providing such lists for so many years... This, after

I started working as a Risk Manager in the medical malpractice world and

noticed how well physicians reacted to such things. If I were doing it now I

would

most likely have someone help me...

These lists sure came in handy when I started the private disability

paperwork and the SSD paperwork but more importantly when I cannot remember or

my

brain is mush or I am simply in too much pain to go into detail the papers go

into

detail for me.

Hope this helps anyone out there trying to get their records together.

Debbi