One page
The page for when they can’t ask you
When somebody arrives at hospital and can’t answer questions, four things get asked in the first hour. This page has room for all four.
Print it, fill it in by hand, and put it where somebody would think to look. The fridge, the folder by the front door, or the bag that goes to appointments.
A phone is better at this right up until the battery goes, or until the person holding it is the patient.
Download it as a PDF One page, ready to print.
Or print this page directly, with Cmd-P on a Mac or Ctrl-P on Windows. Only the sheet comes out.
In an emergency
Please ring the people below. This page was filled in by hand and may be out of date.
Who this is
Full name and date of birth.
Medicines
The names, roughly the doses, and which ones are taken in the morning.
Allergies, and what happened
Include anesthetic and contrast dye if either has ever caused trouble.
Advance directive
Whether there’s one, where it’s kept, and who already has a copy.
Who to ring
Name, how they’re related, and a number that works today. Put the doctor or the practice on the last line.
nestbound.app/emergency-sheet
Once it’s on the fridge
Read it again when the medicines change, and once a year whether they have or not.
An old sheet is worse than no sheet. It sends somebody confidently in the wrong direction.
What goes out of date first, and how often to look: keeping it true.
The four things on this sheet, and why a hospital asks for them first: what a hospital asks when they can’t ask the patient.