Medical Bracelet - good idea or not?

[Drago]

What has caused the parishioners to entertain all these morbid thoughts of mortality??

Accy has bought a ouija board.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

If you carry a smartphone you can get SOS apps that can be opened by anyone from the lock screen with your medical details, contacts, etc.

Couldn't that be a problem if your phone gets stolen??

Thinking of something in case I have another wobbly or my asthma goes mad when out on my bike
or something

at the moment I track everything with Strava because it allows my wife to keep an eye on where I am in case she gets worried
(not that she would admit to it - but whatever)

 

[ColinJ]

If you want to wear a bracelet, my guess is that one line with your NHS number will do the job.

Not necessarily, unless the NHS has finally got its I.T. systems sorted out so that different trusts can access a nationwide database!

I was treated for my first DVT/PE in Yorkshire in 2012 (which is when MY morbid thoughts of mortality developed!)...

A year later it happened again and I ended up as an emergency hospital admission in Northampton. I ended up giving the consultant there a detailed medical history. He told me that their system couldn't access Yorkshire's so otherwise somebody there would have had to get on the phone to ask someone up here to read my case notes out!!

 

[Drago]

Couldn't that be a problem if your phone gets stolen??

I'm not sure that a thief knowing you have an incurable STD and your uncle should be contacted in an emergency is going to cause any real problems.

 

[ColinJ]

Couldn't that be a problem if your phone gets stolen??

Or it gets broken in the crash?

 

[lazybloke]

I wear a dog tag with the extra info on. I bought it for about £2 on eBay HERE. (Blimey - the price has more than tripled since then, but £6.25 is still pretty cheap.)

My tag has these lines of text on it:

1. (My name)
2. On Warfarin
3. For DVT/PE
4. NHS Number
5. (My NHS number)
6. ICE Numbers
7. (First phone number)
8. (Second phone number)

Hmm, it looks like that company only engraves 6 lines of text now, but my tag could easily have had 2 lines removed so that is no biggie.

And it's only A4 size!

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

If I had your concerns then I would definitely get something that looks like a source of serious medical informatiion.

I only know what Warfarin is as it was part of rat poison in the 1960s and 1970s.

Without that background that band looks to me a lot like a trendy/counter culture statement; I’ve had too much ecstasy, cannabis, alcohol etc.

So instead of being informative it could actually be alienating or confusing.

Guy calls an ambulance and instead of saying there’s medical information just ignores the reference to “social drug usage”

It’s like a short post or text message, what you intended to say is not what the recipient read.

Not everyone would think to look for Dog Tags so a bracelet may be more obvious, work, safety and style considerations aside.

Bye

Ian

 

[bikingdad90]

Or it gets broken in the crash?

Yeah, higher probability if you wear cargo style trousers. Last time I fell off my bike I smashed my phone screen and got a lovely phone size and shape bruise on my thigh.

 

[PaulSB]

My suggestion, based on real life experience, is it must be something clear and obvious. I have a medical history and take drugs that it would be useful for medical staff to know.

For perhaps ten years I have been registered with onelife id. I wear the supplied bracelet at all times. The website holds my medical history and a link to my NHS records.

In June 2024 I was hit from behind by a tractor driver. I was descending at +/-32 mph. When I came round in the ambulance one thing I recall is raising my hand to show the bracelet:

1st paramedic "What's that?"
2nd paramedic "Don't know. Never seen one before."

For ten years I rode under a false sense of security. My advice would be this. Yes, wear something obvious and secondly do not rely on any third party to hold and provide information to medical staff.

 

[Bazzer]

After I acquiring a DVT following a cycling accident, Mrs B and my daughters insisted I wore a neck tag and wrist tag showing I was on Warfarin. Just in case that for my next ambulance ride I was unconcious.
They reasoned paramedics or hospital staff would be likely to see at least one of the tags, if like in the original incident, clothing had to be cut.

 

[presta]

My dog tag just says:

Bonzo
0800 001 4444

 

[Drago]

I carry a card which reads...

In the event of my sudden death please call an ambulance, and quick!

 

[numbnuts]

Another dog tag wearer - all on 5 tags
name
DOB
blood type - not really necessary
national insurance number
NHS No
type 2 diabetic
next of kin
religion - against assisted dying
pre-paid funeral No

 

[icowden]

Not necessarily, unless the NHS has finally got its I.T. systems sorted out so that different trusts can access a nationwide database!

It sort of has. A bracelet or some such with the immediate concern listed is useful (Warfarin). NHS Number or Name and DOB is very useful as it allows the paramedic treating you to access your Summary Care Record.

If you have chosen to allow your data to be shared to summary care record (I do advise this) they will be able to see your allergies, recent test results, and prescribed medications. This is enormously helpful to them in ensuring that your treatment is safe and appropriate, especially if you are unconscious and don't have anyone with you who knows your medical history.

 

[Drago]

There was a brief craze on the army for getting blood type tattoos. I never bothered, because with my luck I'd lose the part of my body with the tattoo on it.