In emergency medical service, time is everything. Fast, coordinated, and effective intervention is required in patients with life-threatening illnesses like heart attack or severe trauma, or respiratory arrest. Advanced Life Support (ALS) comes into play at this point. The delivery of ALS needs not just exceptionally trained paramedics and sophisticated equipment, but also a smooth flow of communication among dispatch centers, the field teams, and receiving hospitals.
At Infina Health, we know that ALS delivery is based on real-time communication. We enable our medical teams to make quicker decisions, better patient outcomes, and deliver the best emergency care that we can provide by ensuring fast information flow.
What is the Advanced Life Support (ALS)?
Advanced Life Support (ALS) is the most advanced kind of pre-hospital emergency medical service that is delivered by professional healthcare specialists and paramedics. ALS is superior to Basic Life Support (BLS) in that it applies advanced interventions that include:
- Monitoring and shocking of the heart.
- Intravenous (IV) drugs.
- Intubation (airway management)
- High-tech trauma and stabilization.
- Ventilator or oxygen therapy.
In case of emergency and life-threatening situations, ALS can be the difference between life and death, and therefore communication during delivery is crucial.
Role of real time communication in delivery of ALS
Providing ALS needs to be synchronized among various actors: dispatch centers, ambulance crews, hospital crews, and, in some cases, even expert consultants. The linking factor that unites all these stakeholders is real-time communication. It helps deliver ALS in the following way:
The Rapid Response and Dispatch
The dispatch and ALS crews can communicate instantly when 911 calls or emergency requests are received so that vehicles are not delayed in deployment. GPS and real-time updates enable teams to access patients in under a minute, which is a huge amount of time.
Better On-Scene Co-ordination
When ALS providers arrive, they are able to communicate using tools that enable them to:
- Send patient vitals to hospitals in real time.
- Ask doctors to do advanced interventions.
- Plan with other responders like fire or police crews.
Seamless Hospital Handoffs
With real-time communication, hospitals are ready at all times before the arrival of a patient. Patient data, such as EKGs, oxygen levels, and condition updates, are provided to doctors, so they can get the appropriate specialists and equipment ready in advance.
Enhanced Decision-Making
Paramedics are able to consult with emergency physicians immediately when they encounter complicated situations, and patients are guaranteed to get the best and most efficient treatment.
Information Exchange and Records
Communication systems enable ALS crews to send electronic patient care reports (ePCRs) in real-time to eliminate delays in paperwork and to maintain continuity of care.
ALS at Infina Health Uses Live Chat
Infina Health values communication as an essential part of emergency response. Here is the way we incorporate it in our ALS delivery system:
- Advanced Dispatch Systems: The dispatch centers have GPS-enabled systems that assign the nearest available ALS unit.
- Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs): MDTs are installed in vehicles to provide real-time information on patient location, traffic conditions, and instructions to the medical care.
- Ensured Medical Communication Channels: We apply encrypted services in order to send sensitive information about patients to the receiving hospitals without any delays.
- Hospital Integration: Infina Health liaises with local hospitals and ensures that ERs are prepared to receive urgent patients.
- Telemedicine Capabilities: In rare cases, ALS teams can access physicians by telemedicine when seeking specialized procedures.
The Advantages of Real-Time Communication During the ALS Delivery
Reduced Response Times
A life saved may be a second saved. Real-time communication provides quicker dispatch, navigation and on-site coordination.
Greater Hospital Cooperation
Infina Health facilitates the transfer of pre-hospital to hospital care by supplying hospitals with the latest patient data.
Increased Patient Survival
Research demonstrates that outcomes of ALS increase when the communication is clear and immediate, especially in the cases of cardiac and trauma.
Better Resource Usage
Being able to update instantly, dispatchers can allocate ALS units more efficiently, without the waste of time and resources.
Increased Patient and Family Confidence
The patients and families are reassured that their care team has the support of highly evolved communication and hospital readiness.
Field Case: Virtual Classroom with Instant Messaging
Consider a patient going into cardiac arrest during a community event. This is how real-time communication can help Infina Health:
- Dispatch Alert: The closest ALS unit receives an immediate notification through a GPS-enabled dispatch.
- On-Scene Care: ALS paramedics arrive and commences CPR and sends EKG data to the hospital.
- Hospital Prep: The hospital is updated in real time and the cardiac cath lab ready before the patient arrives at the hospital.
- Transfer without Discontinuity: When the patient arrives, the hospital team does not stop care.
With such real time communication systems, this seamless coordination would only be achievable.
Communication and ALS in the Future
Technology will become even more important to the future of ALS delivery. New technologies such as AI-based dispatch, telemedicine, and wearable health devices will help make communication even more predictive and fast. Infina Health will be taking the lead in all these developments, so our patients can enjoy the current technologies in emergency healthcare.
Conclusion
ALS is an essential service to critically ill patients and real time communication is what makes it stronger, faster, and more effective. At Infina Health, we have integrated qualified ALS services, modern medical facility, and the latest communications facilities so that patients can experience constant and life-saving services since the moment an emergency call is made, till they reach the hospital.
Real-time communication is a matter of life and death when every second counts, and Infina Health is proud to set the pace.
FAQs
- What is Advanced Life Support (ALS) in emergency care?
Advanced Life Support (ALS) is an additional tier of the pre-hospital care that involves cardiac care, airway therapy, IV drugs, and trauma drugging by trained paramedics.
- What is the beneficial effect of real-time communication in ALS transport in hospitals?
The patient updates are given to the hospitals prior to arrival so that teams could prepare required specialists, equipment and treatment plans.
- What is the communication technology Infina Health applies in ALS services?
Infina Health provides efficient and safe ALS delivery using GPS-enabled dispatch, mobile data terminals, secure communication system, and hospital integration.
