Operating an eHealth System for Prehospital and Emergency Health Care Support in Light of Covid-19.

Introduction: The support of prehospital and emergency call handling and the impact of Covid-19 is discussed throughout this study. The initial purpose was to create an electronic system (eEmergency system) in order to support, improve, and help the procedure of handling emergency calls. This system was expanded to facilitate needed operation changes for Covid-19. Materials and Methods: An effort to reform the procedures followed for emergency call handling and Ambulance dispatch started on the Island of Cyprus in 2016; along that direction, a central call centre was created. The electronic system presented in this work was designed for this call centre and the new organization of the ambulance services. The main features are the support for ambulance fleet handling, the support for emergency call evaluation and triage procedure, and the improvement of communication between the call centre and the ambulance vehicles. This system started regular operation at the end of 2018. One year later, when Covid-19 period started, we expanded it with the addition of several new features in order to support the handling of patients infected with the new virus. Results: This system has handled 112,414 cases during the last 25 months out of which 4,254 were Covid-19 cases. These cases include the transfer of patients from their house to the reference hospital, or the transfer of critical patients from the reference hospital to another hospital with an intensive care unit or transfer of patients from one hospital to another one for other reasons, like the number of admissions. Conclusion: The main purpose of this study was to create an electronic system (eEmergency system) in order to support, improve, and help the procedure of handling emergency calls. The main components and the architecture of this system are outlined in this paper. This system is being successfully used for 25 months and has been a useful tool from the beginning of the pandemic period of Covid-19.

Health and rescue services management system during a crisis event.

Τhe performance of rescuers and personnel handling major emergencies or crisis events can be significantly improved through continuous training and through technology support. The work done in order to create a system has been discussed which can support both resources and victims during a crisis or major emergency event. More specifically, the system supports real-time management of firefighter teams, rescue teams, health services, and victims during a major disaster. It can be deployed in an ad hoc manner in the disaster area, as a stand-alone infrastructure (using its own telecommunications and power). It mainly consists of a control station, which is installed in the area command centre, the firefighters units, the rescuers units, the ambulance vehicles units, and the telemedicine units that can be used in order to support victim handling at the casualties clearing station. The system has been tested and improved through continuous communication with experts and through professional exercises; the results and conclusions are presented.