Free printable template
An emergency information sheet for your parent.
When a paramedic walks in, the first minutes run on a few facts: what your parent takes, what they are allergic to, what is normal for them, and who to call. This is the one page that answers those questions. Fill it in once, print it, and keep it where it will be found.
Emergency information · Kinbase
Keep current · Show a paramedic or ER nurse
Medications
| Medication | Dose | When taken | For what |
|---|---|---|---|
How they usually walk, talk, and act, so a new clinician can see what changed.
Contacts
Insurance
What the ER actually asks first
The triage nurse works from a short script. What is the person’s name and age. What are they taking. Are they allergic to anything. What happened, and what is different from an hour ago. If you can answer those in the first two minutes, the team can start. If you cannot, they wait, and waiting in an emergency is the part you do not want to own.
A written sheet does the answering for you. You will be tired, worried, and standing in a hallway. The page in your hand does not forget the name of the blood thinner or the year of the hip replacement. Hand it over, and let it talk while you catch your breath. If you want the fuller version, here is what the ER needs to know.
Why the medication list has to be right
Most of what goes wrong in an emergency traces back to a bad medication list. A blood thinner nobody mentioned changes how a fall is treated. A doubled dose from two prescribers explains a confusion that looked like a stroke. The list is not paperwork. It is the difference between the right call and a guess.
Write the real dose, not the one on the old bottle. Note what each one is for, because a nurse reads “for the heart” faster than a drug name she has to look up. Mark blood thinners plainly. And check the list against the discharge papers every time your parent leaves a hospital, because that is exactly where doses change and nobody tells the family.
Where to keep the copies
One sheet in a drawer helps no one. Put a copy on the refrigerator, which is where paramedics are trained to look in the home. Slip one into your parent’s wallet or the bag that travels with them. Give one to each person who might ride along to the hospital, so the sheet is there whether or not you are.
The trouble with paper copies is keeping them all current. Change a dose, and now four printouts are wrong. The fix is to have one current version everyone can reach, and to reprint from it when a fresh copy is needed rather than editing the old one by hand.
Where Kinbase fits
This is the sheet Kinbase keeps for you. As the family logs visits and medication changes, the emergency sheet stays current, and the ER can open it from a link with no login and no app to install. You can still print it whenever you want a copy for the refrigerator.
Common questions
What should an emergency information sheet include?
The essentials a paramedic or ER nurse asks for first: the person's name and date of birth, their conditions, a current medication list with doses, allergies, whether there is a DNR or POLST and where it is kept, and who to call. A short baseline of what is normal for them helps too, so a new clinician can tell what has changed.
Where should I keep the emergency sheet?
Keep one copy on the refrigerator where paramedics are trained to look, one in your parent's wallet or bag, and one with each person who might ride to the hospital. Update every copy after any medication change, or keep it somewhere the whole family can reach the current version.
How often should I update it?
Update it whenever a medication starts, stops, or changes dose, and after every hospital stay. Discharge is when med lists drift most, so check the sheet against the discharge paperwork before you leave.
Does Kinbase keep this sheet current on its own?
Yes. As the family logs visits and medication changes, Kinbase keeps the emergency sheet current and serves it from a link the ER can open with no login. You can still print it any time.
Start your family’s record.
Name the book, invite the people who help, and the record starts keeping itself. Most families are set up inside ten minutes.
Free for families to start. Everyone you invite joins from a link or by scanning a code, and nobody has to install anything to read or write.