FAIRMONT, W.V. — The medics of Marion County Rescue Squad are using iPads to fill out patient paperwork, cutting their time in half when it comes to prepare charts.
“The iPads allow us to do charts while we’re on the move,” training officer Tim Curry told Times WV.
For the past several months, paramedics and EMTs have been using iPads programmed with the same charting system their agency uses, allowing them to fill out patients’ charts in real time, instead of using paper first and then transferring the information into a computer.
“It’s cutting our time in half for filling charts out,” he said. “Every minute we’re not in the office charting, we’re out on the road ready to respond to calls faster. We’re also not spending hours in the office after our shifts trying to catch up on paperwork.”
The agency already owns 15 iPads, and is planning on going completely paperless now that their ambulances are equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots.
Curry said the updates will make it easier to provide driving directions and to send information to the hospitals their patients are going to.
“When we send information to a hospital while we’re in transport there, they know exactly what’s going on and we don’t have to translate it over the radio,” Curry said. “Once we get there, the hospital then knows where that patient needs to go, and that could help that patient tremendously.”