Your Traveling Medical Record
If you're traveling, it's a good idea to bring your own "Traveling Medical Record" with you.
Many people have their medical records scattered in different offices: general medical care here, diabetes records there, hospital reports somewhere else.
Since you never can predict which of these records might be important to help with your care during a trip away from home, it'd be wise to keep a consolidated condensed version of all this information with you when traveling.
Here's how to do it:
Contact your personal physician, and show him/her this page. Ask the staff to give you copies of the following pages from your chart:
Any recent lab results (within the past six months or so)
The most recent copy of:
"Chemistry Profile" lab results
EKG
Chest X-ray
urinalysis
Any correspondence from one physician to another physician (for example, a report from a cardiologist to your primary physician about your heart)
Immunization records
The "Discharge Summary" from any hospitalizations within the last few years
Operation and Pathology reports from any major surgery
Other important-looking stuff
Bring your Traveling Medical Record with you to every specialist that you see. Show it to them, invite them to make a copy of any page that they need for their files, and indicate that you want a copy of "important stuff" from your medical record at the specialist's office, to add to your "TMR"
Be prepared to sign medical release forms authorizing the doctor's office to give you copies of the reports. It is usually legally required that the records must be made available to you, but it may be the doctor's office's policy to ask you to sign a release form.
Keep your "TMR" in a heavy-duty cardboard folder that can be
tied or snapped shut. Be sure to have your name, date of birth, home
address, phone numbers, and other vital data easily visible on the outside
of
the folder. Also, leave room on the outside to indicate the address of
where you'll be staying during your next trip!
Other travel hints that aren't frequently mentioned:
Read the handouts from the diabetes manufacturers about traveling with diabetes.
To find a diabetes doc in a town you're visiting: Call the nearest hospital, and ask the diabetes nurse to recommend one.
Take spare prescriptions for all your pills.
Take diabetes-related medications that you might need, even if you don't usually use them.
Always bring your Traveling Medical Record with you when traveling out-of-town for more than a day. Keep it in a carry-on suitcase or briefcase, not in a suitcase that might become separated from you.