The aim of the study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of the operation of a prehospital teleconsultation system in the Emergency Medical Service.
Six ambulances from five different Emergency Medical Service (EMS) districts are equipped with a portable telemedicine system. The paramedics can use this system to contact a so called "tele-EMS physician" after consent of the patient is obtained. The tele-EMS physician has an audio-connection to the EMS team and receives vital parameters (e.g., ECG, pulse oximetry, non-invasive blood pressure) in real-time. Also 12-lead-ECGs can be transmitted to the tele-EMS physician. The transmission of still pictures - taken with a smartphone - and video streaming from the inside of the ambulance can be carried out, if meaningful. The tele-EMS physician supports the EMS team in obtaining all relevant medical history, ECG diagnosis, general diagnosis and can delegate the application of medications. This can be carried out to bridge the time to the arrival of an EMS physician or in less severe cases without an EMS physician on-scene. The safety and efficacy of the introduction and operation of this system should be evaluated.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
425
Teleconsultation in prehospital emergencies
University Hospital Aachen
Aachen, Germany
Rate of complications
The incidence of complications due to delegated medications should be evaluated.
Time frame: up to 2 hours
Time intervals
on-scene time of EMS, contact (EMS) to hospital arrival time
Time frame: up to 2 hours
Duration of teleconsultation
Analysis of the time requirement for teleconsultation with respect to the different EMS districts and different emergencies as well as over time.
Time frame: up to 2 hours
Requirement of on-scene EMS physician
Analysis of the requirement of an on-scene EMS physician in respect to the different emergencies and districts.
Time frame: up to 2 hours
Technical assessments
Analysis of the technical performance of the system
Time frame: up to 2 hours
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