The Importance Of Keeping A Medical Diary For Your Kids..

Ask any concerned parent and they'll tell you, that a large portion of good parenting requires becoming a staunch health-care advocate for their children.

Logically, this no doubt begins with keeping readily available and updated medical information on our children by way of a medical diary.

* The Medical Diary Defined - What It Is And Why It's Important.

Simply put, a medical diary is a small journal that lists updated (both past and present) and important medical information about the specific individual.

Vital for child, parent, doctors and physicians, a medical diary provides several advantages to all involved.

Medical diaries:

• offer clues for more accurate and speedy diagnoses.
• can help prevent medical errors in treatment and diagnoses.
• provide valuable information when acquiring life insurance for your child.
• serve as a memory aid for parents when important medical questions arise.
• provide important information in the event the parent/guardian is not able to speak for the child.

According to a study cited in the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (in 2000), between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year due to mistakes made by medical professionals.

Horrifically, the website Wrong Diagnosis.com, stated that about 70% of all medical errors were believed to be preventable!

To be fair however, one of the major contributing factors to such medical blunders involved a failure to communicate on the part of the patient, or the patients guardian.

Whether this break down of communication entailed withholding information, presenting information that is outdated, or failure to present complete details, inevitably it is up to us as parents, to ensure that we are providing our children's physicians with accurate, detailed, and up-to-date medical information necessary for a proper diagnosis - thus, the all important medical diary.

* What Information Should Go In My Child's Medical Diary?

It's important to keep in mind then, that doctors and physicians are not mind readers. So a medical diary serves as a blueprint of sorts, that will serve as an invaluable aid in reaching an appropriate and accurate diagnoses.

Therefore, from birth onward, parents should record their child's:

• first hearing test
• hospital stays
• immunizations
• illness (specify if there are any major illness)
• milestones (growth charts, first steps, first tooth etc. or lack of)
• eye exams
• oral exams
• allergies (including food, medicine, and environmental)
• skin conditions (such as eczema, psoriasis, etc.)
• other disorders
• medications/vitamins (ones taken in the past and ones being taken presently)
• doctors/dentist/specialist contact numbers and office address
• results of every medical, dental, and specialist visit
• parents address and contact numbers
• emergency contact numbers and addresses
• treatment restrictions (whether due to religious reasoning or personal preference)
• date of birth/recent height and weight/eye and hair color/physical characteristics such as moles, birthmarks etc.
• recent full body photo -

All these items should be recorded and updated on a regular basis.

* Now That I Know What Should Go In A My Child's Medical Diary, Where Can I Purchase One?

Medical diaries, medical journals, child's medical book, whatever you choose to call it, these important books can be purchased from most major book stores, online, and several retail stores such as Big Lots, and on occasions Target and Wal-Mart (some hospitals provide parents with a small one before mom, dad, and baby leave to go home).

Wherever you choose to purchase a child's medical journal, the important thing is obtaining one. In addition to offering parents peace of mind, keeping an accurate and detailed medical journal is a great way of becoming pro-active participants in your child's health-care.

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