Albert Einstein said: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination” (Wallace, Sisk, & Senior, 2018, p. 95). When it comes to technology, no arguments can be raised as it has filled a void especially for emergency medical teams (EMT). The Emergency Medical Team (EMT) is an initiative of the World Health Organization’s Global Health Emergency Workforce program deployed to assists populations of disaster-affected areas worldwide. Technologically based approaches have helped EMTs in disaster training and promise has seen them bridge gaps through a collective approach. The performance of EMTs is crucial in attaining better care results for victims of large scale health emergencies (Amat Camacho et al., 2016). A man-made or natural disaster can impact thousands of people within a fraction of a second, and the availability of technological tools has been of tremendous help to these teams. Patients begin to experience the systems by enjoying reduced waiting times.
Medical technology companies are seen to be focusing on products that deliver faster, cheaper, and more efficient patient care. The complex review and approval process of this organization when it comes to new medical devices is also been re-engineered. Such are the things that have contributed greatly to EMT services by changing emergency lifesaving. As such, various tools and processes have been created by EMTs to assist them in caring for their patients efficiently and effectively. Such technologies are created with patient’s needs at the center of it all and thus, many people have been saved in the process.
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Technologies have helped EMT before and during the response and this have seen many lives and time being saved. As such, to the EMT personnel, technology fits into their preparedness, response and recovery process. By having such emergency preparedness and monitoring plans, EMTs are able to predict when the next major disaster will hit. The EMT personnel use weather models, GIS systems, and seismic sensor arrays to attain all this information. The systems provide state, local, and federal officials with the information needed to prepare for the next natural disaster in time (Nace, 2017). The outcome of this technology system is that more lives are saved in the end. Big data has been brought to healthcare by partnering with tech giants such as Apple, IBM, and Google. By so doing, they have enabled patients to benefit directly from computing power. Simply put, such huge amounts of data is processed using artificial intelligence, which is the next generation technologies that radically increases efficiency by saving time and productivity through saving costs of humanitarian efforts.
Pew trust research conducted show how emergency medical teams are using mobile apps in trying to improve their responses to medical emergencies and in saving lives (Bergal, 2015). The app is mandated to improve the response efforts of patients, hospital staffers and rescue workers to health emergencies. In cities like Cleveland, PulsePoint, the mobile app, has helped save lives. Therefore, emergency apps have been developed and are technologies designed to assist first responders in feeding information to hospital emergency departments and monitoring patients. There are also other apps developed to help people alert their various authorities regarding a looming health crisis in their area. EMNet finderER is another free app used by EMTs to quickly locate the nearest hospital to their emergency; it especially applies to those people who are in a part of town they are not familiar with or even those on vacation (Bergal, 2015).
Furthermore, EMTs on long transports have also used the app and have given a positive feedback of the app with regard to those patients who unexpectedly get worse while on transit and need immediate care. As such, the app has been well received by EMT practitioners because they are engaged in saving more lives through the help of the technology. Parents who have children with food allergies also used the app and it saved the lives of their children. This shows how app technology is being embraced by many people in the community and health fraternity. Twiage is another app that has come in handy for EMT personnel by securing and instantly sending the information of the patient from the ambulance to the hospital. By so doing, the emergency room personnel prepare better and accelerate the patients care especially for those who have suffered heart attacks, strokes and major trauma among others (Bergal, 2015).
In light of trauma, telemedicine, a digital technology, is seen to have a profound effect. When disaster strikes, there are medics on the ground and are normally trained to treat adults. Since most of them are not versed in particular paedriatric care, telemedicine comes into play. The digital technology allows them to give the patient virtual care, where paedriatric doctors access patient’s severity and advise on the next steps without the need of being at site. ER doctors in high demand are able to readily switch from virtual to physical and thus, will efficiently care for more people by being in one location. EMTs lack trained physicians when faced with emergencies, but telemedicine has simplified this for them by giving them an upper hand in physical coordination of its digital tools.
Efficiency in EMT has been made possible through the use of technology that works together with others through sharing pertinent information. All this has been made possible by using technologies in the EMT departments that foster collaboration improvements resulting in an increase in the number of lives saved during an emergency situation. Online communication with health providers is a form of telehealth that also comes in handy for EMTs because it is a technology delivery some aspect of care (Carroll, 2018). This has been made possible by creating vital links facilitating communication, improved collaboration, and coordination. Telehealth is the best solution that has happened for EMTs because it has fostered a community where communication is regarded as vital tool in delivering care.
EMTs have digital disaster management that comes in handy to enable a better and more effective response from emergency personnel. The presence of a training tool SimulationDeck has helped EMT to save more lives. The training comes in handy for EMT’s with regard to disseminating timely, accurate, and coordinated public information during emergencies. The SimulationDeck mimics online happenings and in the media during an emergency situation and has enabled one person to work in the simulation cell and offer services equivalent to ten people working. This means that more EMT personnel will be readily available to handle a given disaster. By practicing all communication forms, EMT personnel affects a large section of the population by understanding their entire environment. It gives a reflection of traditional media to the current media being used by people like social media platforms. The SimulationDeck is a tool that enables EMT to incorporate social media during their exercise thereby, meeting their needs.
Drone technology proliferation is also an efficient tool that has been adapted by EMT, yet they were created for military application. EMS now uses these technologies in areas such as medical evacuations, helicopter services, medical anti-shock trousers, and tourniquets. The drone are used to revolutionize EMT and acts as an eye in the sky, which is a safety vehicle that has managed to rapidly delivery supplies that is potentially lifesaving (LeDuc, 2015). In addition, remote areas are now able to access self-administered medication and telemetry capabilities.
For real-time incident video, drones has managed to give EMT overhead video surveillance that helps them see conditions in the ground. It covers a large area and thus, gives them improved intelligence when it comes to making informed decisions with regard to their response and mitigation. To EMT, this is a positive change because value is added to the emergency field as a result of using drone technology. The positive impact of having drones in the emergency field is that natural disasters can be avoided, to a certain degree, and this results in the attainment of best results; with regard to caring and meeting the needs of people affected with a natural disaster. Drones are also efficient technologies for EMT in terms of mass gatherings that accords them unique logistical challenges in terms of observing and reporting back (LeDuc, 2015). It is through the use of drone technologies that EMTs have managed to have timely medical interventions administered, which has translated to lifesaving activities.
Rapid advancement of technology has enabled emergency response crews and survivors to become better equipped when it comes to tackling immediate challenge faced during natural disasters. A triage acuity level tool is the other technology adopted by emergency departments. It is an Emergency Severity Index (ESI) that acts as a proxy in measuring the safety period a patient can wait for medical screening examination and treatment. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), implementing such standardized tools of time-based categorization in the emergency department improves the quality of patient care (2010).
ESI tools are beneficial to the EMT as they are simple to use, subjectivity is reduced of triage decision, and gives more accurate results to tradition triage systems. The possibility of this is when emergency departments are using reliable and valid triage systems. In addition, it becomes possible when every patient regardless of their mode of arrival and triage location is assigned a triage level (Welch & Davidson, 2010). The rapid identification of patients in need of immediate attention is why ESI is a tool used by many EMTs due to its association to operational needs of the health institution. The rapid sorting has led to improved flow of patients through emergency departments and has resulted in the smooth flow of activities and operations among EMTs. Communication of patient acuity is also achieved by nurses more effectively through using ESI.
In America, a constant string of natural disaster has been experience, but dissemination of information and information has played critical roles in saving people’s lives. The use of drones, social media, real-time disaster modeling, and widespread connectedness has resulted in more efficiency and necessary flow of information for EMTs. In using technology, which is organic and unofficial in nature, the best of humanity is able to be seen as value is ascribed to its application. Combining such technological advancement in EMT field has seen many people saved in little time. Disaster survivors have realized that their first response should be social media and is a technology that constantly surrounds their centric needs at the time of the disaster. It is also among the technologies they use in their everyday life, but I a different way. It is apparent that we need to familiarize with the new technological advancements because they come in handy during disaster times. Technologies have also resulted in communities coming together to help respond to an emergency or natural disaster. In summation technology in the EMT has positively impacted the field of emergency because more and more lives are beings saved. The processes and tool that have come with technology in the EMT field has seen many people accessing better health especially when disaster strikes. Services accorded to such populations are also top notch meaning; they receive the best even when disaster strikes.
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