Who Uses PHRs?

Chronic Illness

Mike was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago. He had been generally healthy prior to his diagnosis, and had to adjust to the demands of managing a chronic condition. He didn't realize how challenging it would be to keep track of all of his medications, refills, vital signs, tests, and general health information. He had tried to keep track of everything on paper, but wasn't always conscious to keep all of his information together. Mike did some searching on the web for solutions to help him to manage his illness. He started using the CapMed Personal HealthKey. With this program, Mike is able to input as much information about his condition as he wants. He enters information on his medications and doctor's visits. He is also able to manage his vital signs in the Vitals and Profiles section. In this section he could enter his blood sugar levels and other statistics and is even able to track and graph them over time. One of the features he likes the best is that his Personal HealthKey is portable and fits right on his keychain. If inserted in another computer, his emergency information will pop up right away. He takes comfort in knowing that if he is ever in an emergency situation, his pertinent information will be readily available to those taking care of him.

Chronic Condition

A couple of months ago, Tracey was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother had also battled with the disease when Tracey was young. She saw how hard it was, not only for her mother to fight the disease, but to manage it in a workable manner on a regular basis. Tracey asked her doctor what part she could take in managing her care most effectively. He suggested that she develop an electronic Personal Health Record. Tracey chose CapMed in part because of the software's ability to store images. She quickly leaned the many benefits of using CapMed's Personal HealthKey. She is able to store all of the information about her disease into the Record. She could store her images and link them to her condition, so all of her records for her breast cancer could be associated together and easily accessed. She also found that she could link to online resources for her disease through the HealthKey as well. Now, Tracey feels more confident that her records are accurate and current. She also feels more educated about herself and her disease which gives her more energy to focus on fighting it.

The Parent

Carolyn is the stay-at-home mother of three young boys all under the age of six - including one newborn. Her husband Tom travels a lot and they just recently moved into a new home. Carolyn has taken charge of trying to keep all of her children's medical records - from the time she was pregnant with her first child until the present. She was finding it difficult to keep track of each child's doctor's visits, immunizations, sicknesses, and progress - not to mention hers and that of her husband. She had a folder for each family member in a desk drawer. Every time one of the boys got sick or had to go to the doctor, she had to go fishing for their records. For Carolyn, the CapMed Personal Health Record provided a way for her to keep them updated quickly, completely and confidentially. Having just moved, she was able to take all of the boys' medical history with her to their new doctor's office in printed reports with no hassle. The information is organized into various categories, making it easy to find and access. Now, when one of the children gets sick, Carolyn can have their medical history at her fingertips in a matter of seconds.

The Caregiver

Kathy recently became the caregiver of her two elderly parents. She literally spent days trying to input bits and pieces of information into a computer format. She knew she did not have the time to do all of this in addition to her daily role as a working mother. In searching for helpful hints, she came across the CapMed Personal Health Record. Kathy realized rather quickly that this was the right solution for her. She was able to organize her parents' health information including insurance, medications, and other personal health history to have on hand when taking them to the doctor. She is also able to check for drug interactions through the software which she finds reassuring as her parents are prescribed several daily medications. Kathy has found that it reduced her stress so much that she just started working on creating records for the rest of her family as well.

General Health and Wellness

Jeremy just graduated from college and started a new job about two hours from where he grew up. Suddenly he was faced with having to gather and organize all of his personal medical history that his parents and providers have from over the years. He was very focused on finding new primary care providers right away. He also wanted to be able to maintain his diet and exercise routines that had been so closely monitored by his coach on his lacrosse team. Jeremy knew that this would be difficult to manage with his new busy schedule. His mother had mentioned to him that she had been using CapMed's Personal HealthKey to manage the family's health information at home. Jeremy ordered one and started using it right away. He found it very useful for inputting all of his diet information, exercise routines, and fitness schedules. He even set reminders that would pop up to remind him of his workout schedule. Jeremy was also able to organize all of his information into reports which helped him to have accurate medical history information when visiting new providers for the first time. Jeremy has found the HealthKey to be useful in helping to manage his life, reducing his stress, and giving him more time to focus on his day-to-day life.