World Medical Card
Encyclopedia
World Medical Card is product and registered trademark belonging to World Medical Center a Norwegian Company, headquartered in Bergen
, Norway
. The company's business is Health Information Technology
, more specifically a supplier of Personal health record
s.
In cooperation with specialists in acute medicine
and the University of Bergen
, the company developed an international, personal medical card (World Medical Card) to allow individuals to carry essential medical information with them at all times and everywhere in the world.
Early experimental versions included Smart card
and data matrix
versions, but were abandoned as they required specific infrastructure
to be installed at the facility receiving the patient in order to be useful. The latest generation of cards include the information in printed letters, but is only accessible by physically cutting open the card. This also reveals an emergency code that allows the medical professional access to a read-only
web profile describing the card holder.
Later on the product portfoilo was extended to also include a web based Personal health record
, allowing the user to manage personal information while also serving as the source of information for producing the card, and a mobile application.
The company has been a pioneer in promoting the use of ICD-10
and ATC
codes as defined by the World Health Organization
for processing all medical data.
The product's main purpose is to allow the user to manage and access vital personal data such as:
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The company's business is Health Information Technology
Health information technology
Health information technology provides the umbrella framework to describe the comprehensive management of health information across computerized systems and its secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality entities, and insurers...
, more specifically a supplier of Personal health record
Personal health record
A personal health record or PHR is a health record where health data is curated by an individual user themselves. This stands in contrast with the more widely used electronic medical record which is held by institutions such as a hospital and contains data entered by clinicians or billing data in...
s.
History
World Medical Center was established in 1998 to create a system to improve the safety for people in a situation requiring immediate medical treatment by a doctor who is not familiar with the person’s medical history.In cooperation with specialists in acute medicine
Acute medicine
Acute medicine is that part of internal medicine concerned with the immediate and early specialist management of adult patients with a wide range of medical conditions who present in hospital as emergencies. It developed in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s as a dedicated field of medicine,...
and the University of Bergen
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
, the company developed an international, personal medical card (World Medical Card) to allow individuals to carry essential medical information with them at all times and everywhere in the world.
Early experimental versions included Smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
and data matrix
Data matrix
Data matrix can refer to:*Matrix - A rectangular array of elements***Data matrix - An encoded barcode.*Data set - A collection of data in tabular form....
versions, but were abandoned as they required specific infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
to be installed at the facility receiving the patient in order to be useful. The latest generation of cards include the information in printed letters, but is only accessible by physically cutting open the card. This also reveals an emergency code that allows the medical professional access to a read-only
Read-only
In computing, read-only can mean:* Read-only memory , a type of storage media* Read-only access to files or directories in file system permissions...
web profile describing the card holder.
Later on the product portfoilo was extended to also include a web based Personal health record
Personal health record
A personal health record or PHR is a health record where health data is curated by an individual user themselves. This stands in contrast with the more widely used electronic medical record which is held by institutions such as a hospital and contains data entered by clinicians or billing data in...
, allowing the user to manage personal information while also serving as the source of information for producing the card, and a mobile application.
The company has been a pioneer in promoting the use of ICD-10
ICD-10
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision is a medical classification list for the coding of diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases, as maintained by the...
and ATC
Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System is used for the classification of drugs. It is controlled by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology , and was first published in 1976....
codes as defined by the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
for processing all medical data.
Current product
The product "World Medical Card" as it is offered today is composed of three main elements:- An online web based health profile that allows the user to add and edit personal health data ("onWeb")
- A WAPWireless Application ProtocolWireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...
-based mobile phone application that gives access to the same data, translated to a language of choice ("onMobile") - A sealed physical card containing a condensed summary of the holder's health information ("onCard")
The product's main purpose is to allow the user to manage and access vital personal data such as:
- diagnoses
- medical historyMedical historyThe medical history or anamnesis of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either of the patient or of other people who know the person and can give suitable information , with the aim of obtaining information useful in formulating a diagnosis and providing...
- medicationMedicationA pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
s - allergies and adverse drug reactionAdverse drug reactionAn adverse drug reaction is an expression that describes harm associated with the use of given medications at a normal dosage. ADRs may occur following a single dose or prolonged administration of a drug or result from the combination of two or more drugs...
s - vaccinationVaccinationVaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
s - emergency contacts
- important personal documents (by upload)