What to Carry to the Emergency Room — An Immunotherapy Go-Bag Checklist

Carry your immunotherapy treatment card, a government photo ID, your health insurance or scheme card (Ayushman Bharat, Aarogyasri, or a private insurer) if you have one, and the most recent discharge summary or treatment plan letter. These documents let the emergency team confirm you are on immunotherapy and access your case history within minutes, instead of waiting on records requests.

• Treatment card or patient ID card from CION (or your treating hospital)
• Government photo ID — Aadhaar, PAN, or driving licence
• Insurance policy card or scheme card (Ayushman Bharat, Aarogyasri, or private insurer)
• Most recent discharge summary or treatment plan letter
• A phone photo of your prescription and latest scan/report, as a backup

You don't need every item on this list to be seen — even a photo ID and one document mentioning "immunotherapy" is enough to point the emergency team in the right direction.

Bring your immunotherapy treatment card along with the date of your most recent infusion, how many cycles you've completed, and the regimen name exactly as written on the card — you don't need to memorise any molecule name yourself. These details tell the emergency team how recently you were dosed, which matters because most immune reactions appear within weeks of an infusion, not months.

• Date of your last (most recent) immunotherapy infusion
• Number of cycles or doses completed so far
• Regimen name as written on your treatment card
• Any dose delays or pauses your oncology team has noted
• Your next scheduled infusion date, if you have it handy

Carry a current, complete list of every medicine you're taking — prescription drugs, over-the-counter tablets, and any supplements — with doses and how often you take them. Emergency doctors need this to rule out drug interactions and to avoid prescribing something that could worsen an immune reaction already underway.

• All prescription medicines, with dose and frequency
• Any steroid given for a previous immune reaction, and its current taper schedule
• Over-the-counter medicines taken regularly — painkillers, antacids, and similar
• Vitamins, supplements, or Ayurvedic/herbal preparations, even if they seem unrelated
• Known drug allergies, if any

Ask your pharmacist for a printed medicine list if you're on several drugs — it's faster for a busy ER team to scan than a handwritten note.

An immune reaction from checkpoint immunotherapy can look like an ordinary infection, food poisoning, or an anxiety attack to an emergency doctor who doesn't know you're on immunotherapy. The documents and dates in this checklist are what let them make the connection quickly and start the right treatment — usually steroids started early — instead of treating it as routine illness while the reaction quietly worsens.

NCCN and ASCO guidance on immune-related adverse events specifically flags recent treatment history and dosing dates as key information for teams assessing a possible irAE — this is a documented part of safety practice, not an extra precaution invented for this page.

Building this folder takes about twenty minutes and turns a frightening scramble for paperwork into a five-second grab on your way out the door.

1. 1

   Print or photograph your treatment card

   Keep both a paper copy in the folder and a photo on your phone, so you have a backup if one goes missing.

2. 2

   Write down your last infusion date

   Update it after every cycle — a sticky note on the folder or a phone note both work fine.

3. 3

   List your current medicines

   Ask your pharmacist for a printed list if you take several, and update it whenever something changes.

4. 4

   Add emergency contacts

   Your oncology team's direct number, plus one family member who knows your treatment history well.

5. 5

   Keep it somewhere everyone at home knows

   A drawer near the door or a labelled bag works better than "somewhere safe" that only one person remembers.

This checklist works alongside the wider picture of immunotherapy emergency care — these companion pages go deeper into the parts most families ask about next.

• Immunotherapy Emergencies: Symptoms That Need Care Today — the full list of red-flag symptoms this folder is meant to help you respond to quickly.
• Why an Emergency Doctor Must Know You Are on Immunotherapy — why saying this one sentence matters as much as any document you carry.
• Severe Diarrhoea: The Emergency Most Families Miss — a specific reaction where your medicine list and dosing dates change how quickly it's recognised.
• Immunotherapy at CION Cancer Clinics — how we monitor and support patients through immune-related side effects, from the first infusion onward.

Preparation Is Part of Safe Immunotherapy Care

Patients and families who keep their treatment history ready are supported by the same multidisciplinary team throughout treatment.