Having a Hard Time Keeping Your Medical Info Up-to-date?
As we age part of our baggage includes collecting an extensive medical history. However much our past history may be linked to our health today, it doesn’t necessarily follow us around. Experts explain we have yet to develop an all-knowing system that tracks a person from birth. Kelly Batista, executive director of the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in Florida, says for some, compiling a thorough medical history can become overwhelming.
Medical professionals recommend a couple of methods to help keep track of vital medical information. The first is to use your patient portal attached to your healthcare provider or hospital. Along with storing medical history and test results, you can use it to communicate with your doctor, ask questions, and confirm and request appointments. It allows you to access information regarding prescribed medications and to request refills, view doctors’ notes after a visit, update insurance and make payments for care. Although remember unless you are part of a large medical care system, your records are not all linked.
Mobile apps are another method to store medical information and are designed to keep track of diet, fitness, chronic health conditions like diabetes and day-to-day health events. Rema Padman, a healthcare informatics, analytics and operations researcher and Trustees Professor of Management Science and Healthcare Informatics at Carnegie Mellon University, says, “We’re also seeing apps and wearables provided by health care providers to monitor patients at high risk for adverse events, so they can intervene early and prevent emergency visits or hospital admissions.”
Other people prefer keeping their own file of paper copies of medical tests and medications or computer copies. Regardless of which system you use, doctors say it is worth the effort.
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Source: health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/keeping-track-of-health-information-what-you-should-know?src=usn_nl_yourhealth&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Your%20Health-Thu%20May%2026%2006:26:01%20EDT%202022&utm_term=Your%20Health