A SIM card-based ubiquitous medical record bracelet/pendant system — A pilot study

Abstract

Accidents and environmental disasters constitute emergency situations whereby paramedics require the largest obtainable amount of medical information on a particular individual in as short a time period as possible. Moreover, patients suffering from medical disorders/conditions, such as dementia, epilepsy, stroke, and cardiac arrest often find themselves in situations requiring immediate intervention from medical personnel who need prompt access to personal medical records. Given the urgency of such situations, access to the required patient's information in a medical database can be tedious and may deplete critical, life-saving, time; thus, a more adaptable, interoperable, and efficient means of obtaining personal medical information becomes a necessity. As such, this study presents the design and development of a SIM card-based personal medical record bracelet/pendant system, tagged with a ‘Medirec’ logo for ease of member recognition, and which is readable on Nokia Symbian mobile phones. The system consists of either a silicon-gel wristband or an army-style pendant that houses the SIM-card, encoded with the individual's medical record that is then displayed on the phone by a custom-developed ‘Medirec’ software application. The developed system is cost-effective, un-encumbering, and ubiquitous. It also takes into account the holder's right to privacy inherent in the procedural manner in which the information is handled. At the same time, the system is considered to be interoperable with existing database systems.