Real-time video call: New opportunities for the Vienna rescue center

Real-time video call: New opportunities for the Vienna rescue center

(Vienna, 08-10-2024) Today there are employees: Inside rescue control centers, often before a special challenge: callers: Inside, in stressful situations, often cannot describe their emergency clearly and precisely. But with the unprecedented progress of technology, a new dimension in emergency communication opens up. Real-time video calls, made possible by smartphones and innovative software solutions, allow the dispatcher: inside in control centers to get an immediate picture of an emergency. In a Vienna shopping center, it is currently being examined how this technology brings with it both advantages and challenges in practice.

This simulation study is carried out in cooperation between the Vienna Professional Rescue, the Puls association, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Digital Health and Patient Safety and the Medical University of Vienna. The aim is to clarify how video emergency calls can improve the quality of emergency care. Previous approaches have already shown that video communication can significantly increase resuscitation quality in laypersons. But how real-time video calls on the call duration, the correct description of the medical emergency and the acceptance of this new method are largely unclear.

implementation of the simulation study

As part of this five days of examination, 20 control center employees take part in the study. They are confronted with a total of 160 simulated emergency calls, which are triggered by 80 volunteers: inside. Professional actors are used: inside who reproduce the pre -defined emergencies. A web-based application called Flagmii® EML is used for video emergency calls, which was developed by the Frequentis Group.

"With more than 1,000 emergency calls that enter into the control center of the professional rescue service, an efficient processing is of great importance to optimally support first aiders: to be able to use the resources of the emergency services in the best possible way," explains Christina Hafner, specialist at the university clinic for general anesthesia and head of the research group "Telemedicine in the emergency service" Ludwig Boltzmann Institute. She emphasizes that telemedical solutions for first aiders: inside and for the employees: inside the control centers can be of considerable benefits.

The importance of precise information during a call also emphasizes Mario Krammel, chief physician of the professional rescue in Vienna: "Additional information is crucial for us and can save lives at the crucial moment. With the use of the possibilities that offer us technologies such as real-time video, we can further improve these inputs. This has direct positive effects on the effect and effectiveness of our aid measures."

relevance of the revival

The meaning of this study also becomes clear from the point of view of the revival. Sebastian Schnaubelt, Managing President of the Pulse Association, emphasizes: "In the event of a cardiac arrest, the probability of survival per minute drops by ten percent. After about three minutes, the brain can occur irreversible damage. It is therefore crucial to increase the quality of revival through video telephony at the same time, it helps to dismantle concerns, because one thing is clear: nothing to do is the biggest mistake." Pulse actively campaigns against sudden cardiac death and sees the use of the latest technologies as the right way.

The ongoing simulation study takes place in the Q19 shopping center in Vienna-Döbling, and the results are evaluated by scientific methods. The publication of the results in a specialist journal is planned for the coming months.

For more information on these developments, See the reporting on www.meduniwien.ac.at .