Sickle Cell Personal Medical Information Card

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop a Personal Medical Information Card (PMIC) to provide an accurate and up-to-date, individualized point-of-care, medical history and treatment plan for patients with sickle cell anemia. This wallet sized "smart card" will be carried by patients and contain information on a microchip viewable on a standard PC. The treating physician will enter information onto the PMIC following each visit. Information from the hospital/clinic information system databases as well as information regarding treatment guidelines will be placed on the PMIC. Our specific aims are: (1.) To develop a secure medical information system encoded microchip embedded in a standard wallet sized plastic card for patients with sickle cell anemia, (2.) To develop a user-friendly interface between the data management system in the primary care setting and the microchip embedded in the PMIC and, (3.) To place a card reader in the emergency room and primary care setting to evaluate the use of the PMIC by the treating physician and its acceptability to the patient. We anticipate that this application will be applied to many complex, chronic medical conditions, that it will improve the care of patients with sickle cell anemia and that it will have considerable commercial value.