Best Results Organizing

Over the past month, we’ve been chatting about pretty serious topics, organizing papers related to medical emergencies, visits to the doctor and personal health records.  That’s heavy stuff.  With springtime in the air, it’s the perfect opportunity to take a break and consider organizing with a little frivolity.  Are you with me?

Paper Doll loves books.  In the past, we’ve discussed serious ways of organizing your books, less than functional ways of keeping those books in order, and how to organize and keep track of what’s in your personal library.  And we’ll have a special feature coming up soon on newer options for organizing your personal reading collections.

But sometimes, we just need to look at things from a different perspective. For example, if you’re short on book storage, you might wonder why you never thought of keeping your books on both sides of the shelves:

 

(Interested in making your own inverted bookshelf?  Instructables has step-by-step instructions for designing your own version, just in time for springing a good-natured April Fool’s Day surprise on your loved ones.)

Oh, an if anyone gives you a hard time about how you’re not keeping your books organized enough to satisfy them, or, conversely, if you’re trying to teach an object lesson to your kids about what happens when we don’t organize a little bit every day, just point them in the direction of this photo called House of Books, courtesy of Joanna A. at JPG Magazine:

(You’ll prove to the former than things could be much, much worse.  The only trouble showing this to the latter is that kids might actually want a book-covered room!)

Speaking of having too many books around the house, there’s always the artistic option of The House of Books Has No Windows (via The Letter):

Last Autumn, The Gallery of Modern Art in Oxford, England displayed this art installation, the result of a collaboration between Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.  It’s been reported that the house was constructed from 5000 books.  While it’s surely sturdier than a proverbial (or literal, I suppose) house of cards, please remember that the goal of organizing is to be functional, and I suspect if more than a few titles were retrieved from over the doorway, it all might come tumbling down.  And then who would feel like an April fool?

In this day of unpredictable real estate prices, perhaps a better option than a book house might be a build-it-yourself bedroom bookcase fort, Tokyo’s Point Architects‘ Uroku House:

(via Geekologie).

Of course, sometimes you merely need a little more space, and you think “Wow, I wish my bookshelf could slide apart as easily as Grandma could add extra leaves to that fancy dining room table!”  Well, you wouldn’t be living in a Fool’s Paradise if you tried to act that out using this expandable bookshelf (via Apartment Therapy) from German designers Farsen-Schoellhammer (Click so you can see the nifty little slide show):

If you’ve failed to take Paper Doll‘s past advice about decluttering your book collections to heart, you may have an ever-increasing supply of books but only five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes (at least, according to Rent) in which to read them.  Corral your almost infinite book collections with the Infinity Bookcase from

Dutch conceptual artist Job Koelewijn. (Koelewijn really must love books–in 2005, he created a surreal gas station out of book covers.)

If you start feeling a little dizzy from zooming through infinity on this book organizing foolishness, maybe you’ll want to find something soothing that pairs Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, like these Cave bookshelves from designer Sakura Adachi:

The Caves not only come in adult and child sizes, but for you Paper Doll readers who love to share a bedtime story with a furry friend, there are even pet Caves: 

Before someone says that Paper Doll has let this post go to the dogs, let me just wish you the serenity and extra time that true, functional organization brings, so that you can enjoy some reading time this April.  Be a fool for knowledge, and if possible, share the gift of reading with someone else.

Have you ever wondered what happened to that paperless office you were promised at the dawn of the personal computer revolution?

Is it true that organized people only touch each piece of paper once and then it’s handled…forever?

Does an organized desk (or house, or car, or office) really equal an organized mind?

Oy.

I am so excited to announce that I will be the guest on this Friday’s broadcast of The O Myth,

hosted by organizers extraordinaire, Brandie Kajino and Krista Colvin.  Please tune in live on Friday, March 27, 2009 at 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific to hear me, Brandie and Krista chat our way through the so-called rules of organizing paper in this modern world.  (Don’t worry if you’re busy at that time–the shows are recorded, so you can enjoy them over and over as podcasts on your computer of favorite fancy-schmancy MP3-enabled space-age gadget.)

In case you’re new to Blog Talk Radio’s hot-hot-hot organizing show, The O Myth is all about debating and debunking popular opinions on organization, because strict rules (strictly speaking) can lead to self-sabotage.   As Brandie and Krista say,

“Traditional organizing rules emphasize perfection over people and we believe it bends best in the other direction. Our playful debate, helpful tips, sass, wit and laughter bring new perspectives to the discussion, giving our listeners fresh hope that they too can live an organized life.”

If you’re a loyal Paper Doll reader, you know already know how much I love helpful tips (and sass), so I look forward to you joining us on Friday’s broadcast of The O Myth, when we’ll be talking about my favorite subject, PAPER, and the facts and fiction about what constitutes successful paper organizing.

Until Friday!

Paper Doll is a sci-fi geek. I still remember being disappointed that visits to my pediatrician weren’t as high-tech as what I’d seen on Star Trek.  Dr. McCoy might have the patient hop up on the bed (covered only in that thin, shiny blanket), and the bed was able to transmit all the essential medical data to the little computer readout right above the patient.    That tricorder electronically captured vital signs without ever invading the body.  Even the hypo-sprays were painless. 

Last week, we discussed the essential information we should collect to create our own binders of portable and in-depth medical records and reviewed a few commercial offerings for building our own personal medical records database.

Keeping your papers all in one place certainly provides security, but I know many of you prefer a space-age technological answer–bypassing paper clutter altogether.  There are three general options for storing you medical information digitally:

• On your own computer, using a commercial or open-source template or recording information in your own preferred format–This format can then be printed, emailed, saved to a flash drive or uploaded to an online vault.
• On a flash drive, using pre-created software, or by saving your own files.
• Online, using a paid or free online medical records service or tool for retrieval from any location with internet access.

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, ease of use, ease of access and flexibility:

On Your Own Computer

This is the simplest and least expensive option, allowing full flexibility in recording the information you think is important.  Review last week’s low-tech, low-cost solution and simply use any software you own (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Word, etc.), open-source software (like OpenOffice.org) or a free “cloud computing” option (like Google Docs) to record the basic personal, medical and legal data, as we discussed.  (You can also find downloadable forms Word-compatible forms online, such as the 15-page offering at MyPHR.com (about which you can read more, at the end of this post).

Simply type whatever medical or insurance data needs to be saved, using last week’s post as a guideline.  Personally, Paper Doll prefers using Excel or a similar spreadsheet format.  Excel workbooks allow you to separate categories (general information, insurance, medical history, allergies, contact info, etc.) on separate worksheets within the workbook, and the entire workbook can be easily password-protected.

Next, print two updated copies (periodically, after you’ve made revisions), one for yourself and one for your emergency contact; this way, you can maintain a copy digitally on your computer and still make the data portable in a notebook or three-ring binder. 

Additionally, you can save the data to a flash drive and use a label maker or marker to note that it contains information to be used in a medical emergency.  However, please note that most emergency medical providers and many emergency rooms, hospitals and even doctors’ offices might lack access to compatible software or the internet.

If you’re concerned that you might forget to enter some data, there are numerous programs for capturing all essential medical data, including MyMedTracks, sold at OnlineOrganizing.com, and ProfileMD Classic, a downloadable shareware program.

Medical Record Flash Drives

MedicTag is an oldie in the world of medical records kept on USB or flash drives.  It is simply a flash drive with a Microsoft Word-compatible form (Windows-only, with no Mac or Linux compatibility) that allows you to record the data about which the system asks.  There’s a high-priority section for listing medical conditions, and sections for listing emergency contacts, physicians, insurance data, prescriptions and over-the-counter medications (name, dosage and frequency), allergies and other medical conditions, and surgical history.  Users are advised to wear the MedicTag on a lanyard, or one could keep it on a keyring or in one’s bag.

Paper Doll thinks that a pre-created form like MedicTag might be satisfactory for someone lacking the basic computer skills needed to create a do-it-yourself version, but at approximately $40, I believe there are better options for the typical computer-savvy or web-savvy user.

MedIDs‘ MedFlash (1 GB) and MedCharm (2 GB) are two alternatives that could allow for more complete medical storage.  Designed to be worn or at least visible in case of emergency, both store all user-entered information in the (seriously old-school) ASCII text format, but also allow for uploading of digitally-transmitted X-rays, EKGs, MRI or other imaging results, etc.

Again, this is a matter of spending money for a form and USB flash drive, when that money might be better spent on either actual health care or a more in-depth records service.

Online Services

MedicAlert’s Personal Health Record
You probably know the MedicAlert brand from the bracelets worn by many people with chronic conditions.  The company has branched out into a comprehensive set of services, which include:

• secure online access to a personal health summary, which includes your medical profile (diagnoses and conditions), allergy information, medication names and dosages
• log of medical device information, including the manufacturer, model and serial number of any medical devices you may use or have installed)
• notification of family members (listed in your record) of an emergency

Update your information online or by calling into the MedicAlert service, and MedicAlert’s service is 24/7/365, with medical personnel able to relay your medical history to doctors or emergency personnel without anyone having to log into a computer.

MedicAlert also has a deluxe Gold service where you and your doctors can both contribute to your record.  MedicAlert creates an account in the Document Center and gives you a “DC” number that can receive both fax and voice messages. Once you authorize your health care provider to give MedicAlert your information (just like when you authorize one doctor to share your information with another), and then they can send your medical records, images, test results, and other essential data directly to your account.  All the records, whether sent by your or your health care profession, are translated into PDFs for easy viewing on the computer.

MedicAlert has extra levels of service (at extra levels of cost) that can make it more appealing for those who prefer dictating to typing and prefer knowing that someone else is taking care of the details.

Medsfile helps you create your own secure personal health record simply by typing in basic patient information, including name and contact information, but also birthdate, height and weight, and organ donor status.  The sections for listing medical conditions, procedures, surgeries, immunizations and family history is a little bare bones–Paper Doll would have preferred a template for easily providing dates. Medsfile does have some detailed template attributes that surpass those on the flash drive template forms, including:

–An insurance section to track each primary and secondary insurer’s name, toll-free phone number, subscriber name, policy/group/member information, and more.  This section could be improved if it linked interactively with an insurance company’s online patient file.

–A medications section that not only lists prescription names, dosages, frequency and dates taken, but also breaks out the list into two categories:  medications taken currently and medications no longer taken.  Medications can be sorted by name, dates taken or purpose.

–A supplements section lists vitamins, minerals, herbs, and dietary supplements, also broken down by current and former usages.

–An allergy section that indicates allergy type, reaction and provides space for additional comments.

–A detailed emergency contacts section that also has a space for other notes, so if your emergency contact is best reached via Twitter or Facebook, or can only be reached during work hours by calling a supervisor, that can be listed as well.

–A pharmacy section with spaces for pharmacy and contact name, phone and fax numbers, web site and additional information.

–An online medical diary for tracking your symptoms and how you feel.

Patients can access their own health information by logging in, or they can grant access to others (friends or family, medical staffers, etc.) by providing their member card.  Medsfile has added a (small) extra layer of security in the form of a security question, so that others can gain access to essential medical information but not personal or financial information.  However, emergency medical providers probably won’t have internet access, and if hospital wi-fi services are down, or (as was my situation) the emergency room receives no cellular service, this option might be useless in an emergency situation.

Medsfile is available at no cost, making it more appealing for the user to try.

GoogleHealth is also free, and thus far is Paper Doll‘s favorite non-DIY option because it makes everything so much easier.  Once you enter some very basic information (date of birth, gender, ethnicity, blood type, weight and height), the system lets you:

–Create your own profile:  Each category (conditions, medications, allergies, procedures, test results and immunizations) allows you to either manually type a response or select from a ridiculously and wonderfully long list of possibilities.  This is especially helpful if the proper name for a condition or drug is difficult to spell or remember exactly.

—Import medical records from various personal insurance records and pharmacies to get automatic updates of your health data.

—Have Google point out possible adverse drug interactions based on the information you input.

—Record physicians’ contact information (and help you search for doctors by name, location or specialty).

—Grant or restrict access to your records.

Because GoogleHealth is currently in beta, we can probably expect future advances, including a section for insurance information, a place to track medical billing and a way to upload digital records from providers not associated with the program. 

Of course, the standard security concerns apply to all data stored on the web.

Finally, these are only a smattering of the options for creating a digital personal health record.  For a more complete list, visit MyPHR.com, operated by the American Health Management Information Association.  Search the database of personal health record options:

• First, choose your format:  internet service, software or paper based
• Then, consider cost.  Select whether you want to purchase your solution or get it for free.

Whatever option you choose, schedule time on your calendar (at least quarterly) to review and update your records.  After all, your life could depend on it!

Paper Doll has spoken with you before about the importance of selecting a calendar/planner that fits your needs.  Organization and time management is always important, but if you’ve recently been laid off and are searching for a new job, precision time-planning is a must.  Further, if your former job provided the resources and technology for managing your time, you may be feeling a little lost without those treats. 

Franklin Covey is coming to the rescue, and wants to help organize your job search.  As their website states:

FranklinCovey knows that getting organized for a job search can ultimately save much time and frustration. Having one place to track all information, contacts, appointments, job leads, and interview notes can make a job search less stressful and more productive. Planning and organization are an integral component of a job search.

Anyone who has recently been laid off can go to their local Franklin Covey store and receive a 2009 Franklin Covey planner…for free!

The process is simple:

1. Go to a Franklin Covey store near you this Saturday, March 21, 2009.
2. Explain to an associate that you’d like to take advantage of the free planner giveaway for recently unemployed workers.
3. Provide the name of your former company and supervisor, and the date you were laid off.
4. Leave with a free 2009 Franklin Covey planner.

From there on, use the rest of the weekend to work up motivation for your job search.

Use the calendar and task sections of the planner to note interview dates, contacts, and any tasks (reworking your resume, attending job fairs, etc.) you can perform to reach your job-search goals. 

Also, use the planner to remind you of the dates/times you need to visit/call/log-in to meet your state’s requirements for receiving your unemployment benefits insurance payments.  (And remember, money has already been paid in to the unemployment coffers on your behalf the whole time you were employed, so if you were laid off, unemployment benefits are due to you.  They are not charitable handouts; think of them as insurance payments.  So don’t delay in filing!)

Use the “notes” sections of the planner to make a list of everyone you know, and check off their names once you’ve let them know you are searching.  Give the great people you know an idea of your skills, abilities and background, and ask them to let everyone they know that you’re searching.  You never know whose co-worker’s brother’s former babysitter is now the president of a company that desperately needs someone with your expertise.  This is what social networking is all about, whether it’s digital or in person.

Schedule time in the planner to do things that will keep you upbeat and make you feel useful and fulfilled.  Block your time so you still get up early, eat breakfast and get out of the house, but once you’ve accomplished many of your business tasks (because searching for a job is now your current full-time job), use the extra hours to volunteer.  If possible, try to find a volunteer position that either uses the skills you already possess and wish to hone, or one that lets you explore skills and possibilities you’d never previously considered.

So find your local Franklin Covey store, set your alarm to get up tomorrow morning (Saturday, March 21, 2009), get your free planner and good luck with that job search!

Quick!  Do you know when you received your last tetanus booster shot?  What’s the address and contact number of your health insurance company?  Has your blood pressure (or cholesterol or other test results) changed much over the past few years?

Some time ago, we discussed the importance of maintaining a medical records section of your Family Files.  In that post, we discussed why it was important to maintain your own medical records (rather than depending on the doctor to safeguard them), as well as what kind of medical contacts and documents needed to be saved.

Most of us live in hope that we’ll never need to review our old medical information. For many, just popping a copy of our medical, dental and vision records in a folder acts as karmic insurance against needing to procure or review that information.  However, sometimes life does not go according to plan. 

As we’ve been discussing over the last few weeks (here and here), it’s not only beneficial but sometimes essential to gather information before and during a medical emergency to help you receive the best medical treatment possible.  Later, when the crisis has passed, and you have to start making the rounds of new doctors (often specialists in ailments you previously might have thought were the names of not-yet-developed nations), you’ll need to have a variety of information at your fingertips in order to fill out forms (even the same forms, over and over, at the same doctor’s office you visited just the week before), to apply for disability or Worker’s Compensation, to answer your doctors’ inquiries, to catch any inconsistencies or better understand explanations. 

The question is, how much do you need to know in advance and how should you gather this data?

Low-Tech, No Cost

If you’re the type who loves to follow my advice for free or almost-free options for filing recipes or documents, you might like creating your own database of information, either handwritten on notebook paper or printed from the computer, using Microsoft Excel or Word (or the free Google versions of each) for easy maintenance and revision.  Contain all of the following in a plain three-ring binder for ease of access and portability.

To get started, capture the information you should know by heart, but which you might forget in an emergency, or even if you’ve had a particularly stressful day, as well as the information you would otherwise have to keep looking up.  This can include:

Basic information (about you, or about the individual to whom the notebook refers):

• Name, full address, phone numbers (home, work, cell)
• Age and birthdate (yes, it does seem redundant, but medical forms almost always ask for both.  In a frazzled moment, it’s easy to forget your age (especially if you’re forever 29), and if one of your children were ill, it’s understandable that you’d become so nervous that you might mix up their birthdays)
• Emergency medical contact‘s name, full address, phone numbers (This is especially important if your emergency medical contact is a sibling or friend who changes phone numbers often.  If you rely on speed-dial, it will be hard to recollect the number when you urgently need it.)
• Employer’s contact information, including your supervisor’s name and contact information, if applicable for Worker’s Compensation or other labor-related documentation
• School contact information, especially if your physician will have to write a letter documenting your (or your child’s condition) to allow for either a return to classes/activities or permission to abstain from them.
• Primary insurance information, including your group number, your personal identification number, the insurance company’s member service phone number and the provider service phone number.  (This should be on your insurance card; for convenience, you could photocopy the front and back of your card rather than writing down all of the information.)
• Secondary insurance information, the same as described above.  (Not sure what secondary insurance is?  Think of that Aflac-quacking duck.  Sometimes, primary insurance will cover 80% of your bills after you’ve hit your deductible, up to the total of your out-of-pocket medical costs.  Secondary insurance may reimburse up to 80% of the remaining out-of-pocket costs–that is, what’s not covered by your primary insurance.)
• Primary care physician’s and applicable specialists contact information and list of hospitals where they have admitting privileges.

Medical History/Information:

• Allergies (to medicines, foods, etc.)
• Blood type (No medical establishment is likely to take your word for this; they’ll have to draw blood anyway.  However, knowing your blood type and Rh factor can help in other circumstances, such as when particular blood donor types are needed.
• Immunization records (including those received for military service or travel abroad)
• Medications (including dosages, instructions regarding frequency and time of day, the prescribing doctor’s contact information, and the name, phone number and location of your regular pharmacy)
• Medical diagnoses and treatments for chronic and acute medical conditions (including treating physicians and their contact information)
• Surgical and hospitalization history (dates, hospitals, physicians and their contact information)
• Family medical history, including your parents’ names, and their pertinent medical histories (diseases/diagnoses/treatments); depending on your conditions, you may need to maintain medical history for your siblings and other close relatives.

Legal Documentation:

• Photocopy of your Living Will/Advanced Care Directive
• Photocopy of your Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare
• Proof of citizenship or identity

An Inexpensive Calendar

Physicians and forms often ask for dates: when was the date of your last “whatever”? When did each particular symptom start?  How long have you had that cough?  Tuck a 12-page calendar (the kind local merchants or insurance agencies give you for free) into the front pocket of your three-ring binder to help you visualize and track your symptoms and recall important dates.

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Wow.  Sounds like a lot, eh? So what if you’re afraid you’ll forget to include something, or you prefer to have a little more guidance.  As always, myriad pre-printed options are available to those of you who aren’t do-it-yourselfers in the record-keeping realm:

Low-Tech, Moderate Cost

Personal Medical Organizer was developed by my blogging colleague, Janet Barclay.  She reports that the sections in her binder include spaces for documenting contacts, a medical history and symptom diary, medications, copies of medical reports and correspondence, and even a place to safely locate receipts from doctors’ visits.  Although this organizer is produced in Canada, it is designed to be suitable for patients throughout North America and elsewhere.

Medical Organizer Kit sold at OnlineOrganizing.com includes a three-ring binder with nine tabbed sections, storage pockets for sorting and storing important documents, and medical tracking charts. The kit allows you to track your appointment times, treatment instructions, medical histories, contacts, prescriptions, dental care and more.

Low Tech, Higher Cost

Jakoter Health Organizer provides a higher-end approach to tracking your medical information.  In addition to thirteen pre-labeled 8.5″W x 11″H pocket folders to maintain medical paperwork (including test results, correspondence with physicians, hospital and medical bills and receipts), this organizer includes forms for prompting you to remember the questions to ask your doctor, a chart to list major health “events” including visits to the ER, hospitalizations and surgeries, information for keeping track of appointments, and more.  (For those who feel the need for something fancier than typical three-ring binder, this organizer offers a choice of a vinyl or faux leather cover.)

High Tech, Moderate Cost–To Be Continued

More and more often, we’re hearing about how computerizing medical records is central to healthcare reform.  It’s a distinct advantage for our physicians when they can log into a hospital database and pull up our medical records electronically, without delay for delivery or deciphering handwriting.  We can anticipate that along with questions about privacy concerns, there will continue to be a push for electronic record maintenance. 

That’s great for the doctors, but what about you, as the patient?  How can you use technology for maintaining your medical records?  From flash drives with pre-loaded data programs to online medical vaults to Google Health, we’re faced with all sorts of alternatives for organizing medical records digitally.

Next week, we’ll be exploring various digital medical recordkeeping options to help you limit the paper clutter, avoid confusion due to creative handwriting or lost paperwork, and increase the ease of portability of your records.  Until then, Paper Doll has some homework for you–consider it a prescription for healthy medical recordkeeping.  Read what the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has to say about maintaining your medical records and the drawbacks of doing so online.

Until next week, stay healthy and safe. (And really, do find out when you last had a tetanus booster shot.)