66.78 (-0.11) Concept of Operation
Distributed to Fire, EMS and ambulance vehicles, the Electronic Patient Tracking System mobile units would be deployed and readily available to first responders. When an incident occurs, a watch officer at the dispatch center or an incident command center would initiate an incident in the Electronic Patient Tracking System to provide a reference for subsequent patient data entry. The vehicles arriving equipped with the Electronic Patient Tracking System are connected to the central database and are ready to gather patient information. As patients are evacuated and treated by EMS medics, a waterproof patient identification armband is affixed to each person being treated to assign a barcode and condition. Using the mobile Electronic Patient Tracking System units, responding emergency personnel equipped with PDA’s would establish communications upon arrival at the triage site and begin scanning and obtaining the status of patients. This information would then be instantly available to the command center to provide the watch officer with status of casualties from the incident. Additionally, dispatch personnel will utilize the data to identify appropriate destination hospitals and medical facilities given the status of the patients and the hospital resources available. Once enroute, hospitals will be able to track patients headed toward their hospitals and prepare based on their individual conditions. During and after the incident, support agency personnel will be able to access and obtain appropriate and accurate numbers and details for use in dealing with the public.
