You can add any illnesses or medical conditions that you have or have had in the past and that you would like health professionals to be aware of when they treat you.
Speak to your GP first if you have any doubts about whether or not to add a medical condition.
Critical information contained in the summary care record refers to information relating to you that healthcare professionals must be aware of. Such health data may affect the choice of examination, treatment and monitoring.
You cannot enter critical information yourself. The registration of critical information will generally take place in consultation with you during an appointment or treatment.
The most common types of such reactions occur in connection with various types of antibiotics and inflammatory drugs.
Examples of such reactions include
breathing difficulties
swelling in the mouth or throat
drop in blood pressure
strong palpitations
convulsions or confusion
More common adverse reactions, such as mild itching of the skin or nausea do not need to be recorded as critical information.
Other allergies
These could be serious reactions caused by e.g. nuts, shellfish, fenugreek or insect venom. The reactions can be the same as those experienced in connection with adverse drug reactions.
More common allergies such as pollen allergy that leads to itching, running eyes or nose and food intolerances that cause e.g. diarrhoea do not need to be recorded as critical information.
Sometimes extra care must be taken when selecting equipment or procedures for anaesthesia (general anaesthesia). This could be due to a narrow throat or windpipe, making it difficult to insert a tube into the throat or because of a stiff neck making it impossible to bend the patient’s neck backwards.
Such information will be recorded on a yellow “Anaesthesia issues card”, which you might have received at the hospital.
These are conditions or illnesses that can be difficult to detect and that can lead to serious complications or incorrect treatment if overlooked.
Examples of such illnesses or conditions include:
Addison’s disease
Adrenal failure
Haemophilia
Phenylketonuria
Brain tumour
Immunodeficiency
Malignant hyperthermia
Splenectomy
Porphyria
Aortic aneurysm
Not all chronic diseases need to be recorded under critical information, but there are many other illnesses and conditions that need to be recorded than those included in the examples above. It is therefore important that you make sure to discuss this with your doctor.
Ongoing treatment
Examples include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, dialysis, LAR, being in a transplant queue or being subject to a mental health crisis plan.
Implants
If you have received an organ transplant, permanent prostheses or have any other foreign bodies due to surgery, such information must be recorded. Only implants or prostheses that affect treatment choices in emergency situations will be recorded under critical information.
Examples of implants that should be recorded include pacemakers, defibrillators (ICD), medical pumps, implants in the ear and intracranial clips.
Ordinary hip and knee prostheses do not normally need to be recorded.
This means that if, after speaking with your doctor, you have decided that you do not wish to receive life-prolonging treatment if you are dying and unable to communicate your own treatment requests.
Such a request shall cover both emergency situations and predicable conditions or incidents. Such a request shall be valid for a maximum of one year before you need to reconsider.
Your wish will be respected, but it is still important for you to note that the attending physician will be responsible for deciding whether or not to avoid giving any treatment.
You are entitled to refuse to receive blood or blood products if the refusal is strongly based on your beliefs.
If you have a diagnosis that means that you need special treatment, this should be recorded.
This could include agreements for open admission to hospital, a contact person in the event of exacerbation of illness, recommended treatment or other factors associated with your diagnosis.
Infectious diseases may affect the treatment you receive from healthcare professionals, for example the choice of antibiotics and other drugs that could further suppress the immune system.
One example of an infectious disease that must be recorded is MRSA (“Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus”) In order to monitor possible MRSA infection, you will be asked whether you have been to a doctor or hospital outside of the Nordic region during the last six months.
What the information is used for
Registered information about you will be available to healthcare professionals via your summary care record.
The summary care record ensures that healthcare professionals can look up and view key information about you as a patient, regardless of whether they are working as a GP, at the accident and emergency ward or at a hospital. This can help ensure that you receive quick and correct healthcare, especially in an emergency situation.
Unfortunately, you cannot find information about your blood type on Helsenorge. Healthcare professionals will always test if they need to know your blood type, for example in connection with blood transfusions or pregnancy.
Norsk Helsenett. About illnesses and critical information. [Internet]. Oslo: The Norwegian Directorate of Health; updated Monday, December 19, 2022 [retrieved Monday, April 29, 2024]. Available from: https://www.helsenorge.no/en/illnesses-and-critical-info/about/