Streaming video to augment decision support for SAS treating COPD and OHCA in Edinburgh

Some of the clinical problems tackled by the Ambulance Service are particularly clinically demanding, and frontline ambulance staff may benefit from additional expert decision support – in particular with time critical life-threatening emergencies, and exacerbations of chronic disease conditions.

This project seeks to trial the utility and acceptability of using a real-time, secure video-link to enhance existing telephone ‘professional to professional’ decision support currently available in Edinburgh. We propose initially to augment the existing clinical pathways for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

If successful, this kind of approach to clinical decision support could improve patient outcomes, facilitate paramedic training and enhance clinical governance and patient safety in a range of difficult pre-hospital clinical situations faced by SAS. In addition this work is entirely congruent with the SAS strategic aim of shifting the balance of care towards providing local care wherever possible, embedded in communities and tailored to individual need.

This project is funded by a project grant from Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland.