Nurse Is Urging Smartphone Users To Make A Simple Change To Their Smartphone Settings
November 13, 2018
source: Facebook/Julia Thompson
No one plans on being involved in any sort of medical emergency. However, the reality is that it does happen, and although you can’t really prepare for such an event, you can take one small step to make the situation easier.
Nurse Julia Thompson took to Facebook to share something very important. She explained that as a nurse working in a public hospital and constantly seeing patients in the emergency department, she sees many patients come in who need to be identified. They have no way of knowing who these patients are, what their medical history is, or how to contact their next of kin.
Julia revealed that on the majority of smartphones, you can set up something called “Medical ID” if you have the health app (which comes with iPhone). This vital information can be accessed even if a patient’s phone is locked, and displays things like date of birth, medical history, blood type, donor status, and who to contact in the event of a medical emergency. Julia added that the “ICE” (in case of emergency) app on androids also works in a similar way.
All you have to do is click on the health app (on iPhone, it’s the icon with the little heart). From there, click on the star icon in the bottom right-hand corner that says “Medical ID.” Fill out your information, and encourage others to do the same! It’s also important that you switch the “show when locked” toggle to on, especially if you have a password on your phone. This information could be so vital if you or someone you know were to find themselves in a medical emergency, unable to communicate.