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photo credit: Infidelic

Medical News Today carried a story about a program at Ohio State University where doctors are storing large amounts of medical information on secured USB drives for heart surgery patients to carry with them. Should the patient suffer an emergency, the treating physician could review the patient’s entire history quickly.

“We usually include their most recent clinic visit, ultrasounds of their heart, heart catheterizations and, in some instances, if it’s important, we may have images of their heart,” says Dr. Curt Daniels, a cardiologist at Ohio State University Medical Center.

Dr. Daniels and his staff came up with the idea of using the jump drives. Daniels says the medical history of some heart patients is very complex, and if they ever find themselves needing medical attention in another city or country, every minute matters. That’s where the jump drive can help. Any doctor, anywhere in the world, can simply plug it into their computer to answer any questions they might have.

“What heart surgeries have they had? How should their heart really be arranged, and how strong or weak is their heart? Do they have valve problems? Is that part of their history? Having that information right away, we believe, will improve medical care for our patients,” says Daniels.

I tried tracking down exactly what application, if any, is used to store the data, but couldn’t find anything. I suspect they simply use encryption software to protect the data, and store files in folders. It would be interesting to see someone develop a software application that encrypts the data, automatically runs when the USB drive mounts, and provides a searchable index to all information stored on the drive. Extra points for automatic language translation for patients travelling to other countries.

If you’re interested in creating one of these jump drives yourself, work with your doctor to accumulate the medical information pertinent to you and use a program like TrueCrypt to protect your data. Just make sure you carry instructions on decrypting the data, and don’t leave both the drive and the instructions at the same restaurant in Italy.

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