A new patent application from engineers at Apple suggests how cellphones could help every last volt in the battery be put to good use when a person makes an emergency call.

Read full article: New Scientist.

As emergency cases are on the rise due to epidemiological reasons, accidents and terrorist activities, ambulance services are being accorded high priority by healthcare providers.

To ensure efficiency and enhance ambulance services, healthcare providers need to increase the number of vehicles, impart proper training and incorporate technologically advanced devices in ambulances.

Read full article: Hospital Healthcare Europe

Bosses at the East of England Ambulance Service said although 400 other crews and paramedics have been told to return to old-fashioned reliable maps, ambulance drivers in Norfolk will still be using the satellite navigation devices when travelling to emergencies.

Read full article: Evening News 24

With the TransportAV, the remote doctor has the ability to control all aspects of the consult. The system features a military-grade touch-screen PC, a 3G Aircard, a controllable camera, echo canceling microphone, a ClearSteth(TM) Stethoscope, a TotalExam(TM) examination camera, and a Bluetooth wireless keyboard with headset for private conversations. All of this is designed into an adjustable, compact unit that can be mounted on a stretcher.

Read full article: Earth Times

The GlideScope® Ranger Video Laryngoscope provides a clear, real-time view of the airway and tube placement—ideal for EMS professionals and military paramedics.

The GlideScope® Ranger and GlideScope® Ranger Single Use were designed to meet military specifications for emergency settings. The design of the GlideScope® Ranger is based on the GlideScope® GVL®, which achieves a Cormack-Lehane Grade I or Grade II view 99% of the time.

Read full article: GlideScopeR Video Laryngoscopes – GVLR.

UNISON SECAmb are appalled at the apparent lack of progresson the issue of “vehicle communication” for front healthandsafetyline staff.

It was UNISON staff side that formally raised this subject at the July 08 Central H/S Meeting the following meeting we looked at the comprehensive risk assessment and where assured that action to provide the essential equipment would be provided!

To date I believe there are still crews without the essential mobile/radios putting them selves at risk on a daily basis. This is totally unacceptable Therefore if no positive action is taken by the trust within 7 working days unison will take action against the employer with in a range of sanctions including reporting the trust to the H.S.E.under Health and Safety legislation.

Read full article:UNISON SECAmb

PointCare, a U.S.-based company that specializes in diagnostic equipment for developing countries, developed the machine in response to demand from health workers in southern Africa. According to company co-founder Petra Krauledat, during a visit to the region in the 1990s, she and co-founder Peter Hansen discovered that “tons of donated instruments just sat in storage,” because the chemicals needed to conduct the diagnostic tests had expired in the heat. According to Krauledat, they determined that health workers in the region needed “a test that could be used in a little shack of a clinic, transported to remote areas and that could withstand the high temperatures.” With the development of the PointCare NOW machine, Krauledat said, “We’ve fulfilled that quest.”

According to BBC News, traditional HIV screening tests use fluorescent markers to label antibodies and count CD4+ T cells. The fluorescent chemicals cannot withstand high temperatures and must be refrigerated. Therefore, Hansen developed a new technique to label antibody cells using colloidal gold, which is heat-stable, can be freeze-dried and stored at temperatures greater than 42 degrees Celsius for one year. In order to use the PointCare NOW machine, health workers liquify the freeze-dried gold-labeled antibodies and combine them with the blood sample. A chemical accelerator then allows the antibodies to attach to the cells. According to Krauledat, the test produces results in about eight minutes. In addition, the PointCare NOW machine is less expensive to maintain than traditional equipment because it runs on a battery pack and does not consume much power, Krauledat said.

Read full article: BBC News.

They may also be capable of driving off-road, allowing access to remote areas of the country, and expandable treatment areas providing 360 degree access to the patient.

New designs showing the possible future for the UK’s ambulances have been unveiled at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London.

The concepts are the result of a two year project called Healthcare on the ‘Move: The Smart Pods Project’, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

On the spot treatment

RCA designer Rob Thompson told BBC News: “Up to 50% of people who dial 999 in an emergency could be treated at home by a rare breed of paramedic, an Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP).

“They have been trained with the skills needed to treat and diagnose a patient on scene rather than run them to hospital.”

The idea of emergency on-the-spot community treatment was introduced by the government in 2001. However, experts say research into new technologies needed to support this new role is still lagging.

Mr Thompson continues: “We are looking at enabling technologies to help ECPs do their job.”

One such design is called the shell concept. It has a removable ‘shell’ that can slide off the main vehicle to create an expanded treatment space, or left on the scene for extended periods of time.

The shell is interchangeable and can provide X-ray, screening and immunisation ability.

James Bond-style seats

Of the six models on display, some are more radical than others.

Mr Thompson explains: “Whilst some of the models you can imagine on the roads very soon, others are much more extreme.

“The autocare concept is an example of a blue-sky project. The core essence of this vehicle design is speed it is engineered to drive as fast off-road as on road.

“Once on the scene an ejector type seat is activated to launch the paramedic, with all the kit and equipment they need, into the thick of the action.”

Other proposals include a soft continuous silicone interior which morphs to the shape of the patient and allows for infection control as well as a deployable tent allowing 360 degree access to patients.

“What these projects demonstrate is the range of possible future directions for the next generation of ambulance.

“We think with the right funding this project could deliver a testable vehicle within the next four years,” says Mr Thompson.
BBC NEWS

After years of delays and the death of a baby in Calgary, Canada is moving ahead with another upgrade of its outdated 911 system, which will help emergency dispatchers locate a caller using an Internet phone.

If successful, the changes would turn the country’s emergency phone system into one of the more advanced in the world, only months after concerns were raised that it was lagging behind other countries.

The decision, unveiled by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in newly released documents, is the second phase of a broader revamp of the country’s 911 system that began a few months ago after a spate of several deaths and near-tragedies in 2008.

The push to update the 911 system for Internet-based phone calls comes after the CRTC said in January that it was ordering the telecom sector to install new technology so that emergency dispatchers could locate cellphone callers. Such cellular technology has been widely used in the United States for years, leading to accusations that Canada’s 911 infrastructure was out of date. However, few countries have managed to tackle the Internet phone problem yet.

“This is really about defining the next-generation 911 network,” said Greg Burdett, the head of Jagged Networks, which designs some of the equipment used to locate online phone calls.

“It’s extremely important that we get it right. And it’s important that we get started soon because it’s going to take a long time to implement. The longer we delay, the more we’re going to make bandages to the current system until something really breaks.”

The process to equip dispatchers to locate Internet phone calls will take longer than the upgrades being made to handle cellphone 911 calls, which could be completed next year. The CRTC expects to issue a decision on how to proceed in early 2010.

Internet phones, better known as voice-over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, are a burgeoning industry. They are often regular phones plugged into a modem and can be moved anywhere there is an Internet connection. There are about 250,000 VoIP customers in Canada, a number expected to grow in the coming decades.

Canada became a global case study in the risks of the emerging Internet phone world last year when an 18-month-old baby died in Calgary after an ambulance was mistakenly dispatched to the wrong city. Dispatchers could not discern the location of the dying baby’s frantic parents, since Internet phones aren’t affixed to a physical address as home phones are.

Instead, VoIP companies keep a special emergency address on file. Although the family had updated its billing address to Calgary, neither the company nor the family changed the 911 address, resulting in the ambulance being sent to their former home in Mississauga, Ont.

The CRTC wants to set up a database that would quickly cross-reference the Internet Protocol [IP] address of an online call with the home address of the Internet subscriber. Each computer connected to a network has a unique IP address, displayed as a string of digits.

The database would be guarded by privacy laws and would be accessible only by emergency dispatchers when 911 is dialled. By law, the database could not be used for other purposes, such as police investigations. Lawmakers can access IP address records now, but require a warrant first.

The CRTC has called for submissions from the industry on how the upgrade should proceed. Such improvements have been bogged down by arguments over costs and who should pay. Internet service providers, such as the big cable and phone companies, want the small VOIP phone companies to pay for any upgrades, and have argued that setting up a database could cost $250-million. The CRTC has questioned the validity of those claims and suspects they are being unduly inflated. The estimates “include little or no supporting detail and cover a very broad range,” the CRTC said.

globeandmail.com.

The service worked with ATC Solutions to review its call handling technology during the development of a new ambulance control centre in Nottingham. As a result, it introduced Mitel’s call flow management system.

The system has allowed it to cope with the 20% increase in calls that came when Northamptonshire’s 999 calls were routed into the regional centre, without employing more call handlers.

The service initially maintained its eight second average answer time for a 999 call. Kelly Macmillan, public sector specialist for Mitel, said: “Increased staff familiarity with the Mitel system has contributed to that average answer time dropping below five seconds.”

Read full article: E-Health Insider.