Defibrillator incident reporting and defibrillator/ePCR integration
A variety of methods, defibrillators, defibrillator network servers and system architectures are described that facilitate conveying defibrillator incident information to personnel that can benefit from access to such defibrillator incident information.
1. A method of communicating defibrillator incident information generated by a first automated external defibrillator (AED) to document a first emergency use of the first AED to treat a first victim during a first potential cardiac arrest incident, the first AED including a shock discharge capacitor and defibrillation electrode pads suitable for delivering a defibrillation shock to the first victim, and a display screen, the method comprising:
by the first AED, in association with the first emergency use of the first AED to treat the first victim, generating a first incident log that contains defibrillator event information related to the first emergency use of the first AED;
by the first AED, generating a first incident identifier that uniquely identifies the first emergency use of the first AED;
at a scene of the first incident, by the first AED, displaying the first incident identifier on the display screen of the first AED to facilitate entry of the first incident identifier into a first emergency services electronic patient care record associated with the first incident at the scene of the first incident;
electronically transmitting the first incident log directly or indirectly from the first AED to a remotely located management server, wherein the first incident log includes at least one of the first incident identifier, and elements that can be used to generate the first incident identifier;
at the management server, receiving a first electronic request from an Electronic Patient Care Record (ePCR) system for a first defibrillator report pertaining to the first emergency use of the AED, wherein the first request includes the first incident identifier that was entered into the first electronic patient care record associated with the first incident;
by the AED management server, generating a first incident report associated with the first incident, wherein the first incident report includes at least some incident information pertaining to the first incident from the first incident log; and
by the management server, in response to the first request from the ePCR system that includes the first incident identifier, electronically transmitting the first incident report to the ePCR system for inclusion in the first electronic patient care record associated with the first incident;
and wherein the management server receives incident logs from a multiplicity of different AEDs, including the first AED and utilizes the first incident identifier received in the first request to uniquely determine that the first requested defibrillator report pertains to the first incident, whereby the management server transmits the first incident report to the ePCR system in response to the first request from the ePCR system that includes the first incident identifier.
2. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising, by an emergency responder at the scene of the first potential cardiac arrest incident that occurs at a location that is not a medical facility, manually entering the first incident identifier into the first electronic patient care record associated with the first incident.
3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein:
the first AED is a modular defibrillator system that includes a base defibrillator unit and an interface unit attached to the base defibrillator unit, wherein the base defibrillator unit is configured to function as an automated external defibrillator without the interface unit and the interface unit includes the display screen and a communications unit capable of electronically communicating with remotely located servers; and
the first incident log is transmitted from the interface unit to the management server; and
whereby the first incident identifier is displayed on the interface unit display screen.
4. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
wirelessly transmitting the first incident identifier from the first AED to an ePCR input device at the scene of the first incident; and
at or by the ePCR input device automatically or semi-automatically entering the first incident identifier into the first electronic patient care record; and
wherein the first AED does not transmit the first incident log to the ePCR input device.
5. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein:
the management server is configured to receive incident logs from multiple different AEDs used in multiple different potential cardiac arrest incidents; and
the first defibrillator report request received from the ePCR system further includes at least one of a geo-location of the first incident and a time of the first incident.
6. A method as recited in claim 5 wherein the management server utilizes the at least one of the geo-location of the first incident and the time of the first incident in conjunction with the first incident identifier to help ensure, authenticate or verify that the correct incident report is transmitted to the ePCR system in response to the first report request.
7. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising, by the first AED, generating and displaying on the display screen, a machine readable barcode that embeds the first incident identifier.
8. A method as recited in claim 7 further comprising, by an emergency responder, scanning the barcode to enter the first incident identifier into the ePCR system.
9. A method as recited in claim 7 wherein:
the barcode further embeds a representation of a URL of a website from which the incident report can be at least one of viewed or downloaded; and
the management server, receives the first electronic request via the website.
10. A method as recited in claim 7 wherein the barcode is a QR code.
11. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising, an emergency responder transferring the first incident report to a medical facility record system together with the first electronic patient care record associated with the first incident.
12. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first incident report transmitted to the ePCR system is in the form of a PDF file.
13. A method of communicating defibrillator incident information created by a first automated external defibrillator (AED) to document a first emergency use of the first AED to treat a victim during a potential cardiac arrest incident, the first AED including a display screen, a shock discharge capacitor and defibrillation electrode pads suitable for delivering a defibrillation shock to the first victim, the method comprising:
by the first AED, in association with the first emergency use of the first AED to treat the victim, generating a first incident log that contains defibrillator event information related to the first emergency use of the AED;
by the first AED, generating a first incident identifier that uniquely identifies the emergency use of the AED;
by the first AED, generating a bar code that embeds the first incident identifier and a website URL;
by the first AED, displaying the bar code that embeds the first incident identifier and the website URL on the first AED's display screen;
electronically transmitting the first incident log directly or indirectly from the first AED to a remotely located AED management server, wherein the first incident log includes at least one of the first incident identifier, and elements that can be used to generate the first incident identifier and wherein the management server is configured to receive incident logs from a multiplicity of different AEDs, including the first AED;
by the AED management server, generating an incident report associated with the first incident, wherein the incident report includes at least some incident information pertaining to the first incident from the incident log;
by the management server, receiving a first request for a defibrillator report pertaining to the emergency use of the AED from a requester that, wherein the first request includes the first incident identifier and utilizes the URL; and
by the management server, in response to the first defibrillator report request, electronically transmitting the first incident report to the requester, wherein the management server utilizes the first incident identifier received in the first request to uniquely determine that the first requested defibrillator report pertains to the first incident, whereby the management server transmits the first incident report to the requester in response to the first defibrillator report request.
14. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the first defibrillator report request is received from a medical records system, the method further comprising, receiving the first incident report at the medical records system and entering the first incident report in a patient record in the medical records system associated with the victim.
15. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the first incident identifier is additionally output by the AED as part of a status message wirelessly broadcast by the first AED as an advertisement, using a wireless communications protocol, without requiring the establishment of a wireless connection between the first AED and a listener device that receives the status message.
16. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the bar code is displayed at a scene of the incident and is recorded or captured in a manner that facilitates use of the recorded or captured first incident identifier in the first defibrillator report request.
17. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein:
the first AED is a modular defibrillator system that includes a base defibrillator unit and an interface unit attached to the base defibrillator unit, wherein the base defibrillator unit is configured to function as an automated external defibrillator without the interface unit and the interface unit includes the display screen and a communications unit capable of electronically communicating with remotely located servers; and
the first incident log is transmitted from the interface unit to the management server; and
whereby the bar code is displayed on the interface unit display screen.
18. A method as recited in claim 17 wherein the first incident identifier is additionally output by the first AED as part of a status message wirelessly broadcast by the base defibrillator unit as an advertisement, using a wireless communications protocol, without requiring the establishment of a wireless connection between the base defibrillator unit and a listener device that receives the status message.
19. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising displaying an alphanumeric representation of the first incident identifier in parallel with displaying the bar code.
20. A method of communicating defibrillator incident information created by an automated external defibrillator (AED) to document an emergency use of the AED to treat a victim during a potential cardiac arrest incident, the AED being a modular defibrillator system that includes a base defibrillator unit and an interface unit attached to the base defibrillator unit, wherein the base defibrillator unit includes a shock discharge capacitor and defibrillation electrode pads suitable for delivering a defibrillation shock to the victim, and is configured to independently function as an automated external defibrillator without the interface unit and the interface unit includes a display screen and a communications unit capable of electronically communicating with remotely located servers, the method comprising:
by the AED, in association with an emergency use of the AED to treat the victim, generating an incident log that contains defibrillator event information related to the emergency use of the AED;
by the AED, generating an incident identifier that uniquely identifies the potential cardiac arrest incident;
by the interface unit, generating a bar code that embeds the incident identifier and a URL of a website;
by the AED, displaying the bar code that embeds the incident identifier and the URL on the display screen together with an alphanumeric representation of the incident identifier;
by the AED, generating a status message that includes the incident identifier;
by the AED, wirelessly broadcasting the status message as an advertisement using a wireless communications protocol, without requiring the establishment of a wireless connection between the AED and a listener device that receives the status message;
electronically transmitting the incident log directly or indirectly from the interface unit of the AED to a remotely located AED management server, wherein the incident log includes at least one of the incident identifier, and elements that can be used to generate the incident identifier;
by the AED management server, generating an incident report associated with the incident, wherein the incident report includes at least some incident information pertaining to the incident from the incident log;
by the management server, receiving a request for a defibrillator report pertaining to the emergency use of the AED from a requester, wherein the request includes the incident identifier, and is directed to the management server using the URL; and
in response to the defibrillator report request, electronically transmitting the incident report to the requester.