Feasibility Assessment of a Pre-Hospital Automated Sensing Clinical Documentation System

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Health Informatics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Pre-hospital clinical documentation faces challenges due to resource limitations and high-acuity situations.
• Current methods rely on memory or informal notes, potentially compromising patient information accuracy.
• Automated systems could enhance data accuracy and completeness during emergency medical services (EMS) transport.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and operational aspects of an Automated Sensing Clinical Documentation (ASCD) system in a real-world pre-hospital setting.
• To identify challenges and potential solutions associated with deploying an automated documentation system for EMS paramedics.
• To assess the perceptions of paramedics regarding the use of the ASCD system.

Main Methods:

• A 12-week deployment of the ASCD system was conducted with Nashville Fire Department EMS paramedics.
• Data collection involved examining system usage, operational challenges, and user perceptions.
• Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to analyze the deployment outcomes.

Main Results:

• Preliminary results indicate that the ASCD system is feasible for pre-hospital use.
• The deployment identified several operational barriers encountered during real-life use.
• Solutions to mitigate these barriers were also identified during the study.

Conclusions:

• The Automated Sensing Clinical Documentation (ASCD) system demonstrates potential for improving pre-hospital care documentation.
• Addressing identified barriers is crucial for successful widespread adoption of automated documentation in EMS.
• Further research and development can optimize ASCD systems for enhanced emergency medical services.