By Jim Christensen of Hewlett Packard
In the back of an ambulance, every second counts. So imagine that as paramedics race down the street, they can whip out a tablet to help analyze symptoms while a physician at the hospital can help give virtual triage. Touch and tablet technologies are paving the way for some amazing new solutions in healthcare and I recently saw how HP and LifeBot are working to remotely speed up emergency treatment.
LifeBot, an Arizona-based company specializing in telemedicine, is revolutionizing speed of care by enabling EMTs to send video, voice and streamed medical data from the ambulance to doctors back at the hospital. They use the HP Slate 500 to help make this all possible.
Here’s how it works: Inside an ambulance, paramedics wear head-mounted cameras and carry the lightweight 1.5-pound HP Slate. The Slate’s touchscreen allows paramedics to easily input critical medical information while other cameras mounted in the ambulance can be remotely controlled by physicians back at the hospital. There, physicians can use HP TouchSmarts or HP digital signage to draw “play-by-play” on the screen to help EMTs provide better care.
The LifeBot and HP-based solution, on display at HIMSS 2011 last month, simulates how doctors can interact with EMTs from their hospital office. You’ve already seen some pictures here, but you can view more photos from our FLCKR album, or just check out the LifeBot Slate in action: