Field kit
Your one-page health brief
Everything a stranger in an emergency department needs to know about you, on one sheet of paper. Fill in what you know, print it, and keep it with your ID.
Imagine you arrive at an emergency department unable to answer questions. The team in front of you has a body, a set of vital signs and no history: no list of your medicines, no idea what is normal for you, nobody to call. Every box below is a question they would ask you if they could.
The brief also earns its keep on ordinary days. Hand it to a new doctor instead of filling in the clipboard from memory, take it to a parent's appointment, or tuck it in an overnight bag. It works the way a pilot's checklist works: the information doesn't depend on anyone remembering it under stress.
Private by design. This page builds your brief inside your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere: there is no account and no copy on a server. You have two ways to keep it. "Remember this on this device" saves it in this browser's local storage, and it stays off unless you turn it on. "Save a file" downloads a copy you control, which you can open here again later on any device. That file is plain text and not encrypted, so store it as carefully as you would a copy of your passport.
Keeping it current
A brief with last year's medicines is worse than none, because people will trust it. Update it the day a dose changes, a medicine is added or a diagnosis is made, then reprint and swap out the old copies. The page stamps the date you last edited it and the date you printed it at the bottom, so anyone reading it knows how fresh it is.
For the family history section, start with your parents, brothers and sisters, and grandparents. The CDC suggests recording each relative's major conditions and the age at diagnosis, and some patterns are worth raising with your clinician directly: a mother or sister with breast cancer before 50, or a parent, brother or sister with colorectal cancer before 50. A diagnosis that came unusually young matters more than one that came late.
If you look after a parent, build one for them too, with them at the table. Use "Save a file" for each person so the briefs never get mixed up, and give a printed copy to whoever is most likely to get the phone call.
What stays on this device
Your brief is built and printed in this browser and never sent anywhere. It is saved here only if you tick "Remember this on this device." The button below removes it, along with anything else the field kit has saved in this browser, and empties the form.
Turn on JavaScript to see what the field kit has stored in this browser.
Last updated October 16, 2026. Guidance cited here was current on that date; clinical guidelines change, so check with your own clinician. See our editorial policy.
Want a physician to go over your brief with you?
Dr. Scott works with individuals, families and leadership teams through The Scott Health Advisory: a structured review of where your health could fail, and a plan to keep it from happening.
or call 410-336-7894