Updated Scouting Safely Information

[qwazse]

How about encoding the record on an RFId and implanting it on the kid subcutaneously?

[Twocubdad]

This is less than helpful.

 

Seems to me having emergency info readily available on smart phones instead of lugging a six pound file box around improves safety. Consequently, our troop is looking at some of the smartphone-based modules for TroopMaster or Scout Tracks so we can keep limited medical info on it. We wouldn't technically scan the forms, but would enter key info from them. I mainly want emergency contact info (truth be told, the only thing on the medical forms you really need with you), but it would also be handy to have key details like serious allergies and medications (I don't care that cats make you sneeze and you take Zyrtec for it. I do care that you are deathly allergic to peanuts and carry an epi-pen.)

 

So where are the concerns? What is it on the medical forms you don't want stored electronically?

 

Instead of a condescending "what part don't you get" how about some real guidance?

[packsaddle]

I note the absence of mention of photocopying. We return all paper to the parents and make no copies, digital or otherwise. If a parent emails a scanned form, then that 'cat' was let 'out of the bag' by them. Not much we can do about it.

 

Security is, and always has been, an illusion. BSA just wants to maintain the illusion. In reality, many of us will either fail to read or else we will ignore this admonition against digitizing. Technology, at least in this case, will not be denied and whatever nightmarish anxieties RichardB suffers from ARE going to come true sooner or later. What they need to do is 'Be Prepared' for it when it does happen.

 

[Sidney Porter]

I know that when my son went to summer camp the physical copy was kept by the nurse and then returned to me when he checked out. I think the desire to ensure that the documents are either destroyed or returned when not needed from a general privacy standpoint (not HiPAA). I am willing to bet that people have old documents on their hard drives that are no longer needed.

 

From a practical standpoint I understand that it is much easier to have everything on a smart phone than a binder when hiking, and in wet environments etc.

[Tampa Turtle]

TAHAWK thanks for posting that. Hmmm I guess I can't really make a photocopy either at work since that is really just a scanner connected to the network. So there is only one copy? A lot of times are Troop is having multiple activities--one weekend we had one Eagle Project, One Service Project, a Campout and a contingent at an OA event. Some guys shuttled between things, So we would need multiple notebooks...and what about Canoe trips, AT trips, etc? Do these guys actually camp much?

[TAHAWK]

TAHAWK thanks for posting that. Hmmm I guess I can't really make a photocopy either at work since that is really just a scanner connected to the network. So there is only one copy? A lot of times are Troop is having multiple activities--one weekend we had one Eagle Project' date=' One Service Project, a Campout and a contingent at an OA event. Some guys shuttled between things, So we would need multiple notebooks...and what about Canoe trips, AT trips, etc? Do these guys actually camp much?[/quote']

 

Do what you feel is best. It's a recommendation.

 

Safer is better. The search for the perfect should not defeat the good. We ought to be careful with private information, and I am sure most of us try.

 

Any organization that is not concerned about both safety and the image of safety is nuts. You will be judged on a 30-30 hindsight basis.

[King Ding Dong]

Guys you are making this to hard. Think old school. Put them all on a strip of microfilm or fiche and call it a day. All you need is a flashlight and magnifying glass and you are good to go.

[TAHAWK]

Guys you are making this to hard. Think old school. Put them all on a strip of microfilm or fiche and call it a day. All you need is a flashlight and magnifying glass and you are good to go.

 

WARNING !! HIGHLY FLAMMABLE!

[Tampa Turtle]

Medical information is always a sensitive subject. I understand privacy concerns as well BUT I hate when there is an incident and THEN a boy shares "Sorry I get rage attacks unless I take my medicine and I forgot". This from a boy and parents I have known for years--you'd think I'd get a heads up before spending a week with a lad.

 

[Eagledad]

Medical information is always a sensitive subject. I understand privacy concerns as well BUT I hate when there is an incident and THEN a boy shares "Sorry I get rage attacks unless I take my medicine and I forgot". This from a boy and parents I have known for years--you'd think I'd get a heads up before spending a week with a lad.

I am amazed what parents hold back from scout leaders about their sons health issues. It's as if they know their son is in a safe place, so they don't worry about it. I had been struggling with one difficult scout when in passing mom mentioned that let him come down on his medication during scouting activities. I kind of let them have it because dad was a very active ASM and knew what I was going through. After that, the scout was much better, but I several such stories. Enough that I started requesting full disclosure when scouts joined. I understand families want to give junior a break from meds on weekends, but that doesn't make any easier for the people around him. Barry