Wireless Network to Improve Emergency Care

A small wireless device is designed to improve emergency care by transmitting patient data to a wearable or handheld computer in a hospital, where it can be displayed for a medical team. The device was introduced at the Resuscitation Science Symposium at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2003 in Orlando (FL, USA).

Called Vital Dust, the device comprises a small, low-power computer connected to a sensor that fits over the patient's fingertip. It is about the size of a pack of chewing gum, runs on two batteries, and includes an embedded microprocessor, memory, and a wireless communications device. By transmitting patient data to a hospital or other centralized location, Vital Dust allows others to see the data on heart rate and oxygen saturation and to gain a global view of all patients in the field who are being similarly monitored, making the triage of patients easier.

"If there is a mass casualty event, having this information on all the victims will allow the emergency medical technicians to triage right then and there, giving the sickest people priority,” said lead author Matt Welsh, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science at Harvard University (Boston, MA, USA) and one of the developers. "If a patient's heart rate slows dangerously or the oxygen saturation level drops precipitously, the system will automatically adjust the transmission power so that a stronger signal is sent out and has a greater chance of being received by the paramedic.”

The developers are integrating Vital Dust sensors with iRevive, a pre-hospital mobile database, to automate the process of capturing patient information.






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