More info on MIT’s SMART

From Medgadget:

After two and a half years of development, the SMART team plans to test its prototype system on actual emergency patients at the Brigham this summer. Each monitored patient would get a fanny pack containing a “pocket PC” from Hewlett-Packard (the iPaq h5500), says Dorothy Curtis, research scientist in computer science and artificial intelligence at MIT.

The device receives data from a blood oxygen sensor on the patient’s finger and three electrocardiogram sensors on the chest, then transmits the data via Wi-Fi back to a nurse’s station for monitoring. Software at the station issues an alert if a patient’s condition changes, Curtis says. The iPaq itself runs in “dark” mode, meaning it doesn’t emit beeps or flashes, which might startle the patient.

Also in the fanny pack is a transponder from Sonitor Technologies of Oslo, Norway, that allows the patient to be tracked with ultrasound. The researchers chose not to use radio-frequency tracking transponders primarily because they did not want the tracking signals to travel through walls. With a Sonitor sensor in each room, though, staff immediately know what room a patient is in, Curtis says. “We can’t tell what chair you’re in, but we can tell if you are in the waiting room versus the restroom or offsite, and that’s what we need,” Curtis says.

DNR Tattoo

From GruntDoc:

This is a photo of a tattoo that Mary Wohlford, 80, has emblazoned on her chest. Wohlford, of Decorah, Iowa, got the ink in February to hopefully eliminate the possibility of any Terri Schiavo-esque controversy about her medical wishes should she become unable to communicate them directly. From the Des Moines Register (photo by Mary Chind)

If all else fails, if family members can’t find her living will or can’t face the responsibility of ending life-sustaining measures, she said, then doctors will know her wishes by simply reading the tiny words that are tattooed over her sternum.

Lack of volunteers threatens rural ambulances

Fron CNN.com

In the past year, three ambulance services have shuttered in a state where about 90 percent of EMTs are volunteers, said Tim Meyer, director of the state Division of Emergency Services.

About one-third of the state’s 141 ambulance services are at risk of the same fate, he said. EMTs and officials worry the shortage could hurt the quality of health care, forcing people to wait longer before an ambulance arrives.

“Science will tell you the longer you have to wait when you’re having an acute event, the less likely you’ll have a positive outcome,” Meyer said.

North Dakota is not alone. Volunteer shortages are found in most states, said Jerry Johnston, president-elect of the National Association of EMTs.

“There’s been some … debate about what the issue is with volunteerism,” Johnston said. “But a lot of it has to do with the generation of people right now.”

Earlier generations had strong feelings of volunteerism and being part of a bigger world, said Mark Haugen, past president of the North Dakota Emergency Medical Services Association.

“We need to rekindle that spirit,” Haugen said.