By EMS1 Staff
LONDON — An app has been called a game-changer for its new feature that allows air ambulance medics to view patients before they arrive on scene.
Digital Health reported that the GoodSAM App, which is currently being used by Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance and Great North Air Ambulance Service, has a new feature called “Instant on the Scene” that sends a live stream video to medics that lets them see the patient before taking off.
“Being able to see the scene of the incident, not only the patients, but how many cars are involved for example, is game-changing in helping us decide what additional resources we might need to send, assessing who we might need to treat first or what medication we might need to give,” Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance associate medical director Richard Lyon said.
The app can also measure a patient’s pulse, and a beta phase feature is even in the works that would allow medics to measure multiple patients’ pulses simultaneously.
“Being able to see the patient and the scene without them having to download a video chat app, and getting a reading of their vital signs, dramatically improves remote assessment of illness,” GoodSAM’s medical director Mark Wilson said. “This can be through visualizing the mechanisms of injury (e.g. number of vehicles involved) or how sick a patient appears.”
Wilson added that the app can be used by other emergency responders, such as police officers and firefighters.