Andrew Nimick Point Concept twitter.com/andrewnim

Some of you may remember a post I did way back when SunLive first launched as it is today, about the use of smart phones in emergency situations.

My focus was on ambulance crew and doctors.

Having been involved in a car crash last November and then ridden in an ambulance to Thames Hospital – wonderful people.

I saw first-hand how better use of technology could improve patient (or are we clients now?) care and reduce the work load on our emergency and healthcare workers.

I could not believe the amount of duplication the system produces and which the staff have to work through.

My recollection, and please if you work in ER do correct me if I am wrong, was that there were three forms which required the same information:

• The ambulance crew record
• The ER entry form
• ACC

I may have missed some.

Then there is the handover. In my case the crew had time to talk and impart the information. In an emergency, doctors do not have time to read forms and need good info straight from the medic's mouth.

Imagine if they don't get that time because the crew have to drop the patient and run?

Now imagine that the ambulance crew have a tablet into which they add all the correct detail? They have an over the air connection via voice and or camera to the ER.

When they arrive the ER knows everything it needs and the info from the tablet is added to a database, which can then populate the other forms.

I know that in an emergency the former would not happen, but the latter should always be achievable and would save time and release staff to do what they need to do – care for the patient, not the bureaucrats.