To improve access to information on patient history in case of emergency, it should be possible in the future for data for use in an emergency to be stored on the German Electronic Health Card, according to the wishes of the insured person. As a basis, the German Medical Association developed an emergency dataset that offers the possibility of storing information on existing diagnoses, medications, allergies, medical implants and other information relevant in an emergency. In the present study, the emergency dataset was tested with regard to the usability and the potential benefits from the perspective of clinicians, emergency physicians and paramedics. To test the emergency dataset a two-phase exploratory study was conducted. In phase I of the study 13 primary care physicians completed a total of 64 emergency datasets. In phase II of the study these datasets were then evaluated from an emergency medicine perspective by 14 clinicians, 14 emergency physicians and 9 paramedics on the basis of fictitious emergency scenarios. The whole validation process was performed purely on paper. Clinicians, emergency physicians and paramedics rated the emergency dataset in more than 70 % of the cases reviewed as being of very great or of great benefit. The data fields medication and diagnosis received the highest benefit ratings. The study results indicate the high potential benefits of the emergency dataset in real patient care situations and a further contribution to the optimisation of patient safety can be expected if there is extensive distribution.