Telemedical support of prehospital emergency care in mass casualty
incidents
Eur J Med Res, 4 (9):
394--8 (сентября 1999)Аннотация
In the German emergency medical service system (EMSS) medical treatment
can be improved in most of mass casualty incidents (MCI). Currently,
the incident commander who is responsible for classification of the
victims (depending on their urgency and condition, the so called
triage) and ordered transportation uses paper-based documentation.
Triage tags are used to identify and classify patients and gather
treatment information. This can cause problems in medical treatment
and in transportation of injured victims. Object-oriented modelling,
simulation, and visualisation of processes can show deficits in treatment
and data processing and thereby help to optimise medical workflow
and logistics. If documentation by paramedics and emergency physicians
is done electronically, all patient records could be send to a telemedical
centre for central data administration. A telemedical supported triage
tag helps identifying victims and managing detailed identification
protocols. The paper-based documentation in emergency would become
obsolete, if hospitals can query all protocols, diagnoses, and findings
from the telemedical centre. Safety and security aspects can be guaranteed.
The complete medical treatment workflow can be supported by telemedicine.
Therefore, in case of MCI, telemedicine can optimise medical treatment
and exonerate the paramedics from unnecessary documentation.