Loma Linda University Medical Center Poised to Use Advanced Emergency Geographic Information System
Redlands, California’s new state-of-the-art, Web-based system that monitors and maps the location and status of emergency resources, such as hospitals, air ambulances, and rescue helicopters, will be unveiled at the ESRI International User Conference, August 7-11, 2006, in San Diego, California.
ESRI, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, developed the Advanced Emergency GIS (AEGIS) for the Center for Prehospital Care, Education, and Research at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). The medical center will go online with the technology in September when fielding emergency medical services (EMS) calls.
The San Bernardino County Communications Center will also use AEGIS, and medical center officials expect that other area fire departments and other agencies will eventually follow suit.
“We want to be a community resource,” said Dr. Jeff Grange, the medical center’s EMS director who conceived the idea for the system that he believes to be the first of its kind.
The AEGIS server receives continuous data feeds and photos that show, for example, in close to real time, where air ambulances have been dispatched and which freeways are congested. At the medical center, a Mobile Intensive Care Nurse working on a computer will be able to see that information displayed on a digital map on a 40-inch LCD monitor. The map’s layers also include roads, schools, and malls.
By glancing at the screen or clicking a button marked with symbols, such as an ‘H’ for a hospital or a helicopter for an air ambulance, the nurse will receive an instant snapshot of:
- Which hospital emergency rooms in San Bernardino and Riverside counties can, at that time, accept more ambulances. A green ‘H’ symbol on the map indicates that people can be transported there, while a yellow ‘H’ means the emergency room is busy and a request is being made to divert ambulance patients to another hospital. The information is provided by the Los Angeles-based Rapid Emergency Digital Data Information Network (ReddiNet).
- The location of air ambulances, rescue helicopters, and other emergency vehicles. Clicking one helicopter button on the toolbar will show, for example, where air ambulances are located. A helicopter rotor even twirls if the air ambulance is in flight.
- Traffic congestion and accidents on the freeways, using reports or camera feeds provided by the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Transportation. The touch of a button reveals a snapshot of what traffic looks like on the freeway, with a time lag of only a couple of minutes.
“Those features and others on the AEGIS will help emergency personnel, whether they’re at a hospital or in a communications center, route patients faster and to a hospital that specializes in the care they need,” Dr. Grange said.
“This will give them the big picture,” said Dr. Grange, referring to the computerized map. “It gets the right information to the right people so they can make the right decisions.”
In the past, emergency vehicles have occasionally run into traffic jams,” said Dr. Grange, who also is an attending physician for the medical center’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “By consulting the freeway camera feeds and traffic incident reports on the computerized map, emergency personnel can plan alternate routes to the hospital.”
Dr. Grange believes the technology can save lives by shaving minutes off transportation time and getting patients who need cardiac care or treatment for burns to a hospital with that specialty. “The patient gets to the right place at the right time the first time,” he said.
The ESRI application, a customization of ArcExplorer Web software, can be replicated elsewhere, according to Bill Davenhall, Health and Human Services Solutions manager for ESRI. “This unique system has been developed for LLUMC, but the solution could be implemented for any hospital or emergency medical service organization in the world,” he said. “It is a dual-purpose solution in that it enhances the day-to-day decision making of the nurses and physicians working in the emergency department. And in case of a major emergency, it provides a single view for emergency personnel in the region. This is the first time that a hospital emergency department has had the tools to achieve situational awareness from multiple sources in one view.”
AEGIS will be demonstrated at the upcoming ESRI UC at the San Diego Convention Center. The demonstrations will be from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., August 8-9, and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., August 10, at the Health Showcase. One demonstration will be inside the Center for Prehospital Care’s new 30-foot long mobile telemedicine vehicle, a high-tech disaster response vehicle that contains everything from an X-ray machine to a satellite television that links to the medical center.
For more information about the AEGIS program, please contact Ann Bossard, the ESRI hospital specialist in the health and human services industry, at abossard@esri.com.