Across Maryland and in most states, hospital emergency rooms are now required to record all radio communication between EMS crew (ground and air) and ER doctors. ACG’s expertise in radio and IP has leveraged multiple contracts to install recording devices in 15 major hospitals, including Johns Hopkins Bayview and MedStar Medical Centers.
Problem:
Twenty years ago, few hospitals in central Maryland could provide medical consultation by radio to EMS crews en route to a hospital. The EMS radio call would rotate between these hospitals, with multiple doctors providing consultation. The system caused confusion and inconsistencies as receiving physicians may not have initially consulted with the EMS provider.
In order for a hospital to be recognized as a trauma or specialty center, the facility must be a designated base station. In 1999, the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Service Systems (MIEMSS) required all Maryland hospitals applying for the designation to be equipped with radio (provided by MIEMSS) and a radio recorder (provided by the hospital) for quality assurance. The designation process took several years to complete as hospitals purchased and implemented the radio recorder systems. The regulation dramatically expanded the number of base station recorders needed at hospitals, creating demand for specialized radio products and integration services.
Solution:
With extensive experience converging radio to IP, MIEMSS selected ACG as an approved vendor for hospitals requiring base station recording devices.
The steps below list the installation and integration process:
1. ACG installed the IP recorder in the ER and integrated it with the base station (connected to MIEMSS radio network).
2. Retrieval software is installed on an administrator’s computer.
3. Each recording can be sorted by date, time and call length, while being stored on a secure network.
4. The recording can also be accessed from more than one PC and converted to a .WAV file for easy transmission.
Robert Dice, Trauma and Burn Program Manager of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, was directly impacted by the radios and software. “I could not do this job and meet the State requirements without this,” he said. “I know it is always going to be reliable – and the clarity is wonderful. The ease of use and the software is great.”
