{"id":15709,"date":"2019-04-01T11:48:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T06:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobisoftinfotech.com\/resources\/?p=15709"},"modified":"2026-03-20T15:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:35:49","slug":"ed-ems-communication-and-mobile-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobisoftinfotech.com\/resources\/blog\/ed-ems-communication-and-mobile-technology","title":{"rendered":"How Can Mobile Technology Bridge the ED-EMS Communication Gap?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 45-year-old man is at his workplace. Suddenly he feels a sharp pain in his chest and collapses. The peers immediately call for an ambulance service and try to give first aid to the man. The patient is being taken to the nearest hospital. Meanwhile, the emergency medical services (EMS) unit collects patient\u2019s information from the peers, own examinations, and make reports. Upon reaching the emergency department (ED) of the hospital, they hand over the patient\u2019s reports to the ED nurses. The nurse communicates this information to the ED doctor. But there are some key parameters missing on the report.
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The doctor fails to figure out the exact scenario of the ischemic stroke because the reports aren\u2019t standardized. She calls the EMS agency and tries to get more information about the patient\u2019s condition.
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Due to the lack of appropriate information, she decides to go ahead with her own physical examination of the patient. The whole process consumes a lot more time than what should be relevant in an acute healthcare situation, and this could be potentially hazardous for the patient on the bed.
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At a healthcare unit with all the appropriate devices, technology for treatments, best healthcare professionals, time is probably the only thing that the patient does not have.<\/em><\/strong>
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The interruptions caused during an emergency situation can lead to a negative impact on the patient’s health. A study<\/a> reports that on an average 30.1% of a physician’s conversations are interrupted.
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Though it might sound surprising, a lot of EMS providers find handoff extremely frustrating due to certain barriers. The whole disorganized structure of most hospitals\u2019 systems, lack of time and focus, coupled with lack of respect for the EMS providers is definitely not a good way to keep the Emergency Medical Service providers motivated.
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A qualitative study of 90 EMS handoffs proved that EMS providers tend to miss out many important details while reporting the patient to the ED during the handoff.
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This calls for a means of better communication between EMS agencies, ED, and people of ED, and thus high-quality handoffs.
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What Is ED-EMS Communication?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The EMS communication system can be defined as a system which helps synchronize critical medical care in emergency settings such as hospital emergency departments, ambulances, and dispatch centers. The system aims to care for serious patients to lessen potential harm to their health.
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There\u2019s a Need for Better ED-EMS Communication<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A study by JAMA researchers<\/a> suggests that the arrival of an emergency medical service unit can take from 7 minutes to 28 minutes at the scene and almost 1 in every 10 patients face 30 minutes or longer wait. That median time gets larger to more than 14 minutes in rural backdrops. With the criticality of that moment and the lack of time, anything that can shave off some time to get the patient to the ED is more than welcome to carry out the handoff. However, it is important to understand what exactly is involved in the EMS-ED handoff.
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