Patient journals/diaries/calendars: case(s)

I've just realized I haven't posted since October! I guess there has been a lot going on and not much time to write about it. Mostly I have been busy in the teaching rooms which continues to be productive and fascinating. The rest of the time is increasingly taken up with ordering pamphlets and tracking pamphlet orders. For some reason more and more of them are being requested by various nurses and doctors, even though fewer of them are available for order in print format as information goes digital. Finding a balance between print and e-resources is proving to be a challenge which is a topic for another day.

Keeping track

What I' m going to post today is a list of journals/diaries/calendars that can be given to patients and families when they are asked to keep track of behaviours, symptoms and/or side effects of medications. Doing so can help in the diagnostic and treatment process. Because it is often hard remember how often you can't sleep or feel anxious for example, keeping track while it happens helps the doctor/nurse get a better sense of what's really going on. There are a variety of instances in which such a thing can be useful.

Here are some of the most commonly requested:

Sleep:

Health Link BC: Sleep diary

Keeping track of symptoms:

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance: Mood and anxiety calendar
Mood Disorders Association of Ontario: Mood diary (pdf)
International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: Bowel disorder symptom diary (pdf)
Ovarian Cancer Action: Ovarian cancer symptom diary
About.com: Daily symptom diary for kids
About.com: Tracking fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms
The Lung Association: Asthma diary card (scroll down)
American Urogynecologic Society Foundation: Bladder diary
National Headache Foundation: Headache diary
World Headache Alliance: Headache diary

Medication side effects and pain:

American Cancer Society: Track cancer side effects and pain

Eating/exercise:

WebMD: Food diary and food allergy triggers
American Cancer Society's Great American health challenge: Food diary
US Gov. Weight-Control Information Network: Sample food diary (scroll down)

Privacy: challenge

Challenge

I am in the H-PHIS room creating a handout on local fibromyalgia resources for patients and it is a busy day in the waiting room. People are starting to browse the pamphlets which we have displayed in two very nice wooden displays along the wall. Small children especially seem to like to run into my room and play with the pamphlets on the bottom row. I will have to think of something more interesting to put there for them to play with.

Today I see the beginnings of what will be a great challenge. My room opens directly onto the waiting room which is good because I am visible and people can feel free to drop in and ask a question or browse pamphlets even when I'm not there. What's not so good is that there is no privacy, either for me when I am working (it can be hard to concentrate when a four-year-old runs in and fake-sneezes on you), or for any person who wishes to ask me to help them find information on a topic that requires privacy. One of the dietitians has to go through my room to get to her office and, while she has put up shades, the glass door and wall do not give her patients much privacy either. How to balance the two? How to make sure that people are welcome to come in and use the service, and that if they need they can have a little privacy?