Citation

Ruter A, Ortenwall P, Wikstrom T. Int. J. Disaster Med. 2003; 1(2): 127-131.

Affiliation

Centre for Teaching and Research in Disaster Medicine Linkoping Sweden; Centre for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Goteborg Sweden

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15031430310031366

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Objective. The 'Swede information system' was introduced in a county with approximately 450,000 inhabitants in April 2000. The implementation of this information system, intended to be operative in major incidents and disasters, has included the introduction of new technologies as well as new standard operating procedures for both ambulance crews and hospital staff. The objective of this study was to see how this information system with digitally mediated transmission was used as a daily routine during a 2-month period, 1 year after its introduction. Methods. The Swede information system sends on-line information from ambulances to emergency wards in the county. The technique used is a LAN (local area net) for communication within the site of the accident, Mobitex® from the ambulances to a data server and from this by Internet to the hospitals. During March and April 2001 all events when an ambulance was dispatched were recorded. All cases when the system was used to notify the receiving hospital were recorded as well as all cases when the ambulance crew alerted the hospital through the alert function. All technical problems and any period of time when the system was 'out of use' were noted. Results. During the period of the study, the system was successfully used to transfer data from the scene to hospital in a total of 3353 missions, including transport of a patient from the scene to an emergency department. Of these, in 150 transports the transferred data served as a base for immediate support on arrival at the hospital that was of critical importance for primary management in the hospital. In all, 2883 different kinds of medical data were transmitted. The local help-desk was notified of problems with the system on 11 occasions; six of these were technical problems and the rest were user-related. The IS Swede system was not operational during parts of 3 days (<5%) of the time. Conclusions. Despite the introduction of new equipment and new standard operating procedures, IS Swede was accepted within the organization to a degree which could be considered operational in major incidents. Technical problems with IS Swede caused only minor disturbances during the stu