When a disaster strikes creating many injured victims fast and efficient emergency medical service is crucial to save lives. Under a new radical plan the Victorian Government is seeking to increase efficiency in assisting victims by bar-coding the individuals.
For two months Ambulance Victoria has been testing a system that will allow the staff of emergency services and hospitals to use the barcodes to track the patients throughout the emergency care from the initial identification all the way to hospital care. Using small hand held devices emergency and medical teams can scan the barcode to get a true picture of the injured and dead. Also important during the chaos of a disaster is the ability the system will give emergency workers to determine if anyone else is missing.
The system will also provide general information including the injuries and the extent of them and previous medical history. In Darwin a test run of 80 volunteer “victims” were assigned categories of dead, walking wounded, critical and semi-critical,
At a trial in Darwin this week, 80 "victims" were divided into the categories of critical, semi-critical, walking wounded and dead for bar-coding. The trial showed that the system would increase the accuracy of data immediately available. This information can also be provided to area hospitals so that emergency and trauma personnel can be better prepared at the hospital for the influx of injured patients.
While promising there are still issues that need to be addressed. Since the scanners send the information using 3G networks in some areas there may be limited or no coverage.
Officials promise that they will continue to look for ways to improve patient care and emergency procedures. A more in depth report is due by July 31 from the Bushfires Royal Commission which is looking into the deaths of over 170 people on Black Saturday.