Taking the AMR/In Motion Technology approach another step further, Dublin based Valentia provides both a gateway and ambulatory information system. Called the Ambulatory Patient Care
system, the package includes clinical software for incident info,
patient registration, clinical data (history, vitals, meds, etc.), and
documenting interventions. This software runs on a ruggedized laptop
and is included with their mobile gateway.
Monitor/defib vendors like Medtronic, Philips, and Zoll
have offered similar systems for years. Of course, these device
vendor's application packages are tightly integrated with their
hardware, offering added value and considerably higher switching costs
(if you want to someone else's software or devices, you must replace
both) -- a common device vendor strategy. Device integration and
clinical documentation is just the front end of the emergency medical
services (EMS) workflow.
On the back end, appropriate data must be shared with clinicians in
destination hospitals. And because each EMS team serves multiple
hospitals there must be a way to deliver patient data and interact with
hospital staff on a per hospital basis. Some hospitals may be a
straight shot into the emergency department (ED) or Accident and Emergency as they say in the UK. Accomplishing the new new thing
of minimizing time to patient treatment entails more variability. This
can include more rapid diagnosis and drug therapy delivered in the
emergency department, or patients skipping the ED altogether and going
straight to the cath lab or surgery.
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