Medical Journal Memos

A Guide for Families with Loved Ones Facing Illness at Home, in the hospital or Long-Term Facilities This journal will become valuable to you as time goes on and will become a legacy of information for your loved ones and heirs. How often have you gone to a new physician or taken your newborn, child, spouse, or parent to a doctor’s office and been requested to fill out a questionnaire? This usually pertains to a variety of issues such as symptoms, current medication dosages, allergies, and family history, just to mention a few. Questions need to be asked, so write down the information prior to appointments in the places provided in this journal so you can record the answers when needed. “Trying to remember” is frustrating in the event of an emergency or catastrophic illness resulting in admission to a hospital or long-term care facility when medical information must be provided. Keep at hand important personal and doctors’ phone numbers, medication history, a list of allergies and inoculations, a ledger of expenses, and admission/discharge summaries, and know how to request medical chart information. Keeping this journal will assist you in being prepared for the everyday and the unexpected, and will assure that what is placed into the medical files is accurate. Be your own advocate and not a statistic, because if not you, then who?