Information services & ICT
Ambulance care staff need information to be able to do their jobs properly. For example, dispatch centre operators need to know the location of an incident and which ambulance they can best send there.
While they are on the way to the hospital, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) need to know how to send the A&E department advance notification with information about their patient’s condition, to ensure a smooth handover. And managers and their staff need management and other information that gives them insight into the results and possible improvements. The information services of Ambulancezorg Nederland (AZN) meets these needs.
National and regional information services
Information services consists of a regional and a national element. At the regional level, the individual RAVs themselves determine what data they need and what resources they require to obtain it. Nationally, there is the sector’s central information services.
This services consists of national agreements and systems to ensure that not only the regional, but also the interregional processes of ambulance care are supported and that information can be shared with cooperation partners from (acute) care and from the field of security, such as the fire service and police.
This sectoral information services is managed by AZN and consists of a number of national systems. These focus closely on uniformity and clarity.
Information services for acute care
With the help of national information services, ambulance nurses send patient information to hospitals and general practitioners. It is sent to the hospital as part of a proper and rapid handover, and to the patient’s GP in order to keep the patient file complete and up to date.
Through the National Exchange of the Association of Healthcare Providers for Healthcare Communication, VZVZ, it is possible, under strict conditions, for BIG-registered care professionals to consult specific medical data of a patient if that patient gives permission. Together with GPs and VZVZ, ambulance care is exploring the possibilities for ambulance nurses to be able to consult this information as well. Particularly in the case of unexpected, acute health problems, reliable information about medication use or allergies can be a matter of life and death.
Information services for Public Order and Safety
Apart from the field of (acute) care, ambulance care also operates in the area of Public Order and Safety. Ambulance dispatch centre operators cooperate with colleagues from the police force and fire service to provide the best assistance possible, for example in disasters and crises.
In this context, multidisciplinary information services meets the need for information at the ambulance dispatch centres. Ambulance dispatch centre operators use joint ICT systems, such as C2000 – the digital communication network for the emergency services – and the Integrated Dispatch Centre System.
Data protection and innovation
Confidential information, especially personal data and medical information, is handled with care. RAVs and AZN make data protection a high priority.