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e-Triage

Summary

Main objective of the project is the design and demonstration of a system for the electronic registration of affected persons in a mass casualty incident (MCI). The e-Triage system is particularly applicable to large-scale disasters but can also be used in individual emergencies, i.e. for regular rescue service. The goal is to provide a communication and database system for everyone involved in the rescue, transport and placement of victims in hospitals and temporary lodgings.

Main event in 2011 is the MCI training situation in October with 100 affected persons (actors) and roughly 350 fire fighters and paramedics. The fully deployed e-Triage technology will be demonstrated in this close-to-real scenario.

Motivation

In heavily populated areas, during major public events, in connection with the use of mass transit systems and in densely occupied public spaces of all kinds, accidents require effective crisis management. In such cases, the rescue resources normally used are suddenly no longer adequate and emergency forces have to draw on resources held in reserve. To begin with, the operational command centre and rescue forces need information as quickly as possible on the type and number of injuries. In addition, the path that those affected take through the various stations within the rescue chain also has to be clearly traceable.

Scenario

e-Triage

For this reason, a timely overview of the situation in a mass casualty incident (MCI) is of crucial importance for the effective use of rescue personnel, vehicles and receiving hospitals. According to the usual procedure, inspection teams first classify the injured at the site (triage), recording the results on triage tags, which they attach to the victims. Rescue forces subsequently use those inspection results to prioritise the treatment and transport of those affected. The inspection and registration of the victims, which necessarily takes place on a decentralised basis, makes disaster management considerably more difficult, as the information that the operational command centre needs remains attached to the patients. Duplicating these data in paper form is a laborious and time-consuming manual process. Another danger in this context is the risk of simultaneous failure or overloading of communication infrastructures. This can result in the loss of important data.

Innovations and applications

This research project will convert the previous paper-based victim registration system into a consistent overall concept for the first time. The data are recorded electronically using state-of-the-art communication networks and database systems allowing an automatic documentation to permit analysis of operations at a later time.  The e-Triage system comprises a self-sufficient satellite-based communication system with radio cells that can be installed locally, matching end devices with application software for the registration of victims and a distributed, self-synchronising database system.

e-Triage - Tag der offenen Tür

Apart from technical aspects, the degree to which emergency forces accept the e-Triage system will depend primarily on psychological factors.  These factors will be investigated as an integral part of the research project and made comprehensible through accompanying psychological research. In particular, this work will study the pre-emptive design of the technology, which accommodates the reduced cognitive abilities of emergency personnel operating under extreme stress. Because the system ultimately focuses on people who are either active as rescue forces or receive medical care as injured victims. Both must have confidence in the tools applied.

Partners

TriaGnoSys GmbH, Weßling, http://triagnosys.com/
Euro-DMS Ltd., Olching, http://www.euro-dms.de/
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Psychology Department, Munich, http://www.psy.lmu.de/e-triage/

Kindly supported by

Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Starnberg, http://www.brk-starnberg.de/
Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Murnau, http://www.bgu-murnau.de/
Landratsamt Starnberg, Fachbereich Verkehrswesen, Brand- und
Katastrophenschutz, http://www.lk-starnberg.de/

Emergency Communications Suitcase with Inmarsat BGAN Antenna

Project-Website

http://www.e-triage.de/

Further Information

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Sicherheitsforschung - Forschung für die zivile Sicherheit, http://www.bmbf.de/de/6293.php
Projektträger VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH, http://vditz.de/index.php?id=1317
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10213/335_read-1634/year-2011/
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10213/335_read-1634/year-2011/335_page-2/

Project run time

01.06.2009 - 31.05.2012