EMS Agencies Turn to Tablets to Meet Challenges in the Field

When Houston first responders suspect that a patient may not require an ambulance transport, they can initiate an ETHAN call on a Toughpad, using 4G connectivity and Cisco Jabber to communicate directly with an emergency physician.

The doctor can assess the patient’s symptoms remotely and can even schedule a clinic appointment and taxi ride for the patient if an ambulance ride isn’t necessary. Most ETHAN calls result in alternatives to ambulance transport, saving hundreds of dollars per call and getting Houston’s first responders back in action more quickly.

“We’ve had almost every major city in Texas come through with the idea of trying to do something similar,” Gonzalez says. “So the idea is definitely catching on.” 

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First Responders Use Tablets to Gather and Transmit Information

The Sherborn Fire Department, in the Boston suburbs, deployed tablets as a way to meet a state mandate requiring first responders to capture patient information electronically. At first, the department rolled out a single ruggedized laptop for the entire department. But that solution was expensive, and it required first responders to pass the device around to gather information from multiple people — slowing down incident response.

About three years ago, Sherborn switched to Microsoft Surface Pro tablets with ruggedized cases, eventually rolling out four of the devices. “Tablets are more scalable,” says Lt. Klaus Ullmann, a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the department. “Now, each one of our crew members can gather information from multiple people simultaneously.”

In Berkeley County, W. Va., officials have deployed about 150 Durabook R11 tablets to police, fire and EMS vehicles. Like Sherborn, Berkeley County is using the tablets for mobile charting. But the devices also interface with the county’s 911 system, and first responders can see dispatchers’ call notes on the tablets in real time, helping them to better prepare for incidents.

“Before, they may have waited 30 seconds or up to a minute before they got the call from dispatch,” says Gary Wine, IT director for the county. “Now, the responders are saying, ‘We’re getting out the door quicker because we know what we’re dealing with instantly.’”

Both Sherborn and Berkeley County are exploring additional ways to leverage their tablets. In Sherborn, officials are encouraging first responders to use their tablets to take photographs of traffic accident scenes. And Berkeley County is starting to use tablets for other government offices, helping to reduce paper use for public meetings and equipping inspection teams with the devices. Wine says he hopes that tablets will add even more value when the county eventually has access to Next Generation 9-1-1, which allows callers to send text messages, photos and videos.

“If we receive a video of a fire or other emergency, that video could be passed right to the tablet in the ambulance,” Wine says. 

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EMS Agencies Need to Solve IT Challenges with Tablets 

New devices require maintenance and support, and first responders don’t have time to troubleshoot connectivity problems when they’re responding to calls.

“Anytime you increase the number of devices you have, you’re increasing your IT workload,” Ullmann says. He notes that his department had to purchase anti-malware solutions to protect data and applications, in addition to the patient record software.

Berkeley County uses software from NetMotion that helps to create a persistent connection between its dispatch center and first responders’ tablets. If a 4G connection is temporarily dropped, the solution ensures that data resumes flowing as soon as possible. As a result, Wine says, first responders usually can’t even tell when their tablets briefly lose connectivity during a response call.

In Houston, the rear-facing speakers on the Toughpads occasionally make it difficult to hear physicians, and the city has used Bluetooth-enabled speakers and headsets to solve the problem.

Gonzalez notes that there aren’t currently any off-the-shelf solutions that replicate ETHAN’s functionality. However, he says, individual departments — or even tech vendors — could design their own solutions that build off Houston’s work.

“If I’m a municipality and I say, ‘I want to do this,’ there isn’t anybody that I know of who can just implement it and turn it on next week. To me, there’s no reason that can’t be done. So, I think there’s plenty of room for innovation out there, especially because a lot of the technical challenges have already been solved,” he says.