Digital aid to the rescue

The University of Warwick has launched a digital aid for ambulance crews at the Ambulance Service Association Conference (AMBEX) in Harrogate.

After working closely with the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC), Warwick has designed a new Ambulance Crew Electronic Pocket Guide that crews can access directly on PDAs for information that was previously only available in paper pocket guides or websites, ranging from advice on resuscitation drugs doses to data on toxic chemicals and poisons.

‘A massive added bonus is that for devices with web access capabilities, the software also gives ambulance crews access to www.toxbase.org, the online database of the National Poisons Information Service and the British National Formulary online database, which provides information on the clinical use of medicines, so that important information can be accessed directly without the need to contact ambulance control,’ said Dr Joanne Fisher from Warwick Medical School.

‘There is also the potential to use the PDA display to give information or ask patients key medical questions in their own language and indicate answers to those questions,’ she added.