Is there an emergency medical app that exist? If not that would be an awesome thing for someone to create. If I told you step by step instruction for how to solve likely traumatic and not so traumatic things. It could literally save numerous lives.
or cost them.
No offense, but an “app for that” could just as easily kill a person instead. Sure, anybody can apply a tourniquet, or stuff hemostatic gauze in a gaping wound, but you can also be one intercostal space off and you’ve darted a non-compressible artery instead of tension pneumo. Training is irreplaceable with respect to some trauma.
I would discourage against such a thing as it would promote people trying to solve real emergencies at home with an app before they call 911. It’s sort of like how everyone self-diagnoses on webmd before they actually get treatment, and the doctor informs them that they actually have something else.
If you are interested in having access to basic emergency lifesaving skills, then you should take an EMT course.
Wow…we literally all chimed in with the same thing at the same time.
I was kinda thinking that if someone were to create this. It wouldn’t be designed as a fill in for a lack of training. But you guys have some valid points… It might be a bad idea for most people.
As a matter of fact, the Red Cross puts one out for Android and iOS.
<—tapping head, paraphrasing great “this-is-my-safety” quote from Blackhawk Down: “This is my app.”
Seriously, an app to augment existing body of knowledge would be a good aid. Just an extension of the billion pocket reference books.
Informed has their pocket field guide apps for all levels of providers.
I think a better idea would be during non-emergency use for review.
Well, if any such app is created that it can be beneficial but at some point if it fails or work in improper way then it may also cause death rather than saving life.
I really see a app like that as being a serious time waster. When you have real critical issues, time is of an essence, the last thing that I need to see at the bottom of a page is “Also see XXX”
Real medical training needs to be an ongoing thing that has increasing difficulty, not just feel good training. Even on the very basic end the training needs to be ongoing and with varying levels of difficulty and problems. Trusting an app to get you the timely information that you need to save a life in extremis is potentially negligent.
On the flip side, using an app as a reference after things are stabilized , or stabilizing is a good thing to help jog memory to improve the situation or to help find the zebras that hide out there.
Apps will never replace good quality training.
As a source of information, why not.
But if your first move after “help I’ve been shot in the chest” is seeing what the Red Cross app has to say about it… God help you
This is why education and training is critical for lifesaving skills. Education to learn how not to kill people and training to make procedures brain dead muscle memory. The “I can cut your throat open and shove a cric tube in your throttle without looking away from my chow” kind of training. I cannot express how ****ed the people are who buy a blowout kit and toss it in their glovebox next to the gun they never train with… Might as well spend that money on a good will and some running shoes.
Yeah, its possible to self-educate to a degree, but without team-mates and a good instructor that feeds you scenarios that make you think and push your skills, a tourniquet or israeli bandage just a decoration. There’s a difference between feel-good training for that “Yay! I did it!” feeling and put your ass through a wringer because that’s how real emergencies and conflict works training that makes you go “Wow, I’m alive, and so is the guy next to me”.
I think liability will ensure this app never exists
We use laminated 8x10 cards in the operating room. These cards have the typical algorithms that we follow for common emergencies. So called “cognitive cues” have been shown to be beneficial even for expert level teams. In my experience, in high stress situations, even top level providers can make mistakes, any tool that has been shown to increase effectiveness should be considered (IMHO).
Though these medical app can save time and reduce healthcare cost but some disadvantages can also arise like the your records and information may be insecure and yes if the app does not work properly, it can cause serious problem.
Terrible idea. Time waster. If you need an app to treat a trauma patient, you shouldn’t be treating them. That kinda stuff needs to be second nature. No substitute for proper, continuous medical training. It’s a perishable skill just like anything else, that’s why EMS professionals recert every 2 years. That said, I do have an app that I use in the field but only for pedi vitals and medication dosages