File of Life Program.

[FF894]

The follow-up/survey thread got me thinking of this. Another thing my department is toying with. The File of Life program is basically a well-labeled plastic sheeth that holds papers and is placed most commonly on the resident's fridge that has information such as pmh and a med list. Any other pertinent info would also be included. It provides responders with a good idea of the history and the all mighty med list that granny also has "somewhere" Different levels of implimentation, but initially we were thinking of doing a town-wide compaign and helping people create them and possibly then maintain them. Residents would be contacted maybe annually to update them. Has anyone implimented them in their town or something similar? What is your experience with them?

 

[Tincanfireman]

This idea has been around for awhile, though I believe that it's never been all that successful, primarily because grandma isn't very good at keeping her PMHx and meds current in the container. Cruise on over to www.vialoflife.com and have a look. I'm not trying to be a killjoy, just passing along what I've heard. Good luck with your project, though.

 

[Ridryder911]

Hate ..."Vial of Life's.... ! Most of the time they are never current, you receive erroneous information and who has time to search in the refig. behind the molded green unknown object ?

I just tossed about 10,000 of those vials away..

R/r 911

 

[Jon]

I was thinking of doing Vial of Life/File of Life as an Eagle Scout project... Alas, I never got my act in gear, and never made Eagle .

On paper, it looks like a nice idea... in practice... unless it is monitored carefully by someone... say a visiting RN in a retirement community.... it is probably of limited value.

 

[FF/EMT Sam]

If they were updated like they were supposed to be, they'd be a great idea, and I will be the first to admit that they have helped us with some of our patients. However, their unrealiablity renders them effectively useless.

As far as R/Rid said about havign to search for them, I agree, but we have a retirement community in our district, and all of those people who have a FoL put a sticker on their door letting us know, and their caregiver/wife/son/etc. usually hands the thing to us anyway.

 

[medic417]

Wish people had them. The few we get as your talking to the patient or family end up being outdated so not much help.

 

[FF894]

Yeah, the main reason we have not gone ahead with it yet is to make sure they will be maintained. The question is who is going to be responsible for maintaining the accuracy of them, how we are going to go about making sure they are acurate (how often do we check with them, door to door or over the phone, etc) Our community is already pretty good at having their own list of meds and pmh scribbled on a piece of paper and stuck to the front of the fridge. I figure if we can help the ones that already do it by making it more neat and standard and use it to have the info for the people that currently dont have anything at all, it might be a good thing. I think we would have a designated 'fol officer' though that would be responsible for periodically and consistantly checking for accuracy.

Thanks!

 

[MMiz]

Once a year we have medics break up into teams and go into the larger granny-stackers in the area. They help complete and update the vials/information cards for patients. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it's a great PR move!

 

[Ridryder911]

We have replace the "vials of life" with a medication card. It is a pre-made card with lines imprinted on it to write down the medications and dosages. As the the med.'s change, they are instructed to draw a single line through it.. (thus: one knows the past med hx.) This is placed in a plastic holder for them to carry in their purse or wallet, with a decorative label imprinted on it.

The hospital sponsored it and when the patient check into Triage they receive one and the med.'s are written down and updated and stamped by the ER.

This has helped more than the vials did. Although, the vials were a great idea the practicality of retrieving and keeping them updated and current is more than some of the geriatric patient is able to perform.

R/r 911

 

[BossyCow]

......granny-stackers ....

That's funny! I spit coffee all over my keyboard.

 

[Canoeman]

file of life

We implimented the file of life program about 4 years ago. Yes it is a bit of a pain and yes you have to assist the persons in getting the information on them but it is worth every bit of the time. We do use them quite a bit in our "wrinkle cities."
Our county social service workers and public nurses also fill in the info for multiple patients as well - so we give them quite a few for our district. The "vial of life" just is not as effective and I have never seen them updated after the first time they are put next to the butter and eggs.

Our local Lions Club gave us the funds to assist with the start up costs with the first 1000 and they continue to support this program on a yearly basis and put the word out.