amPHI™

Structures are changing within healthcare sectors worldwide.

The increasing demands for documentation and quality assurance within the public healthcare sector have led to the installation of Electronic HealthCare Record systems (EHCR) in many hospitals.

In addition to this, the trend seems to indicate, that several emergency departments are being closed, and patient treatment in general becomes more and more centralized.

As a consequence the transport of patients from a place of accident to a hospital capable of handling emergencies, will become more time consuming. Therefore, greater treatment capabilities at the site of accident are desired in order to stabilize the patient before transport.

This means that the pre-hospital intervention is no longer limited to just transporting the patient, because the treatment itself already starts at the site of accident and continues until the paramedics is able deliver the patient to the hospital personal.

An increased specialization of individual hospital functions is also causing more and more patients to be transferred between hospitals, the so-called inter-hospital transfers. The condition of these patients is often critical, and they are being transferred to larger and more specialized hospitals e.g. university hospitals. Several hospitals have even developed specialized ambulances for these inter-hospital transports in order to ensure optimal treatment during transfer.

The increased and still growing numbers of transfers and the longer time span of these in combination with the general enhanced demands for documentation and quality assurance in the healthcare sector, are affecting the need for Electronic HealthCare Record systems for ambulances - here called an Electronic Ambulance Record.

amPHI™ provides the general view The system makes it possible to establish a continuous connection between the hospital, the ambulance and other paramedics through wireless communication. Information regarding the patient condition and treatment is registered both at the site of accident, using a handhold computer, and inside the ambulance. The main objective of amPHI™ is to raise the quality during the treatment of a patient and thus raise the chance of survival and minimize the risk of negative side effects for critical patients during pre- and inter-hospital treatment and transfer:

• Continuous logging of patient data at the site of accident and in the ambulance.
• Retrieval of patient information from the hospital IT systems directly at the site of accident or in the ambulance.
• Assurance of data logging at the site of accident and during transport.
• Better opportunities for involving specialists at the hospital or in other ambulances or supporting vehicles during patient treatment.
• Structured communication during the transfer of the patient from the ambulance to the hospital.
• Booking of examinations and clinical expertise at the hospital from the site of accident or the ambulance.

Data is entered using a computer with touch-enabled screen.

A special secured network designed for telemedical applications is used for communication between the ambulance and the hospital. The network is based on the GSM mobile telephone network.

amPHI™ is developed using standard software and equipped with internal XML-based data communication, providing excellent integration possibilities with existing Electronic HealthCare Record systems in the hospitals.

The letters "am" is of course from the word "ambulance". "PHI" in an abbreviation for "Pre-Hospital Intervention" -the project behind the development of amPHI™. PHI was sponsored by "Det Digitale Nordjylland" and developed in collaboration between Anæstesi Sektor Nordjylland, IT-Sundhed Nordjyllands Amt, Falck A/S and Judex A/S. The name amPHI™ is supposed to put ones mind towards a Greek amphitheatre, which is built so that everybody is able to see what happens on the stage. amPHI™ makes it possible for everyone involved during the pre-hospital patient treatment, to monitor the patients condition and treatment.

amPHI™ is a unique pre-hospital system, developed in collaboration with some of the most important profiles in the Danish pre-hospital area. amPHI™ has been thoroughly tested, which has resulted in the first orders already. The potentials are indeed present for a new chapter in pre-hospital treatment. Download brochure: