We both have it on our cell phones. It stands for "In Case of Emergency". If you are in an accident, the emergency workers will look for that to determine who to call.

They will check in your home, too. If something happens there, if you have programmable phones, then they will look for ICE, so don't have your home phone listed on that one.

I have my husband and 1 of my daughters listed on my cell.

Yup! Its important.

In cell phones, its helpful also if you put the person's name. So, for example, program in your emergency number under "ICE - <Contacts Name>", then put in the number as normal.

Wow I didn't know that. But thanks for letting us know about it... I'm going to go program my phone now!

Yes, my soon to be nurse son , was telling me about that the other day... I haven't done it yet though, my bad, I know!

Ya know, I don't know where that came from, but I have yet to see/hear it from a reputable source. Its been sent to me in chain emails and such, but I have yet to hear it from ANY healthcare professional.
BTW, I am a nursing student and none of my instructors have ever mentioned anything. My husband is also on our local rescue squad and currently taking an EMT-B class and has NEVER had anything like that mentioned.
I suppose it couldn't hurt to do it, but I don't think there is any rule/guideline that says all emergency workers will look it up.

Whenever I run across something that I'm not sure about, I check out what Snopes.com has to say: In Case of Emergency.

I'm a snopes-checker myself too - also checked with a friend who works at a hospital. Both confirmed that these things are, in fact, checked.

I heard about it in a segment of Good Morning America.