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A Standardised European Emergency Card for Adult Patients with Hypoparathyroidism

Introduction

With some endocrine conditions, patients may find themselves needing emergency treatment. In these situations, it is vital to inform healthcare providers of the patient’s relevant medical background immediately, so the patient gets the correct treatment.

Emergency cards or medical bracelets are a useful way to explain this quickly.

The Hypoparathyroidism emergency card was created following the patients' needs assessment (see details below - Background section). The card follows the same format as all ESE's emergency cards, with standardised text in English on one side, and text in the local language on the other side. To emphasise that ESE stands behind the card, 'European Society of Endocrinology' is printed at the bottom of the international side.

Cards Available to Download

With thanks to the national societies who provided translations for these materials.

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - English

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Armenian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Bosnian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Croatian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Finnish

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - French

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - German

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Hungarian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Italian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Lithuanian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Norwegian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Polish

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Portuguese

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Romanian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Russian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Slovenian

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Spanish

ESE Hypoparathyroidism Emergency Card - Ukrainian

Ordering Cards in Other Languages

National endocrine societies are invited to get in touch with ESE at ecas@ese-hormones.org to request a card in their national language. The content for the "national side" needs to be provided by the relevant national society. Cards are produced in a printable pdf format.

Background – Assessing the need for an Emergency Card

A study was undertaken to assess the need for an emergency card in hypoparathyroidism, initially published in November 2018 and reviewed in April 2019:

Is there a need for an emergency card in hypoparathyroidism? M.C.Astor, W. Zhu, S. Björnsdottir, J. Bollerslev, O. Kämpe, E.S. Husebye JIM, Vol 285, p 429-435 (April 2019)

This study encompassed a postal survey amongst Norwegian and Swedish patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism of all causes. Altogether 455 invitations were sent (333 from Norway and 122 from Sweden).

The results overwhelmingly showed that an emergency card would be of great benefit. 74% of patients responded (253 from Norway and 83 from Sweden). Overall, 44% and 16% had been hospitalized at least once for hypo‐ or hypercalcemia, respectively. 87% felt that an emergency card would be highly needed or useful. Amongst those hospitalized for hypocalcemia, 95% felt a card was needed compared to 90% amongst those hospitalized for hypercalcemia.

ESE conducted a needs assessment to understand how many European countries would value an emergency card for hypoparathyroidism and the approximate number of cards they would anticipate. A survey around the perceived need for an emergency card and the potential interest was distributed to all the National Societies, members of the ESE Council of Affiliated Societies (ECAS) with ESE. The initial results of this survey were very promising.

Of all the respondents 93% said they would be interested in implementing a standardised European emergency card for hypoparathyroidism in their country.

Published
01/12/2022
Tags
Patient Resources , Thyroid , Patients ,
Other Patient Resources

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