Ridgefield EMS goes high-tech

This has been done in New Milford and the surrounding town for at least a four months.

Most of the other EMS services in the Faifield/Litchfield counties have been doing the electronic run forms for almost a year and some longer. Why is Ridgefield so behind? This is not any big news.

we've been doing this since feb...whoopie!

What a waste of money. Writing the info on paper isn't possible? Or entering it into a simple database isn't good enough? We need special computers with no doubt special (also known as expensive) software?

Richfield wrote:

What a waste of money. Writing the info on paper isn't possible? Or entering it into a simple database isn't good enough? We need special computers with no doubt special (also known as expensive) software?

It is Danbury Hospital that has now, finally, required all of it's EMS responders to submit ACR's in electronic form. The charting program has been live since the end of April, yet, Danbury Hospital has failed to provide computer terminals at the emergency room in order for crews to fill out an ACR.

What is your point? It is still a waste of money.

Richfield wrote:

What is your point? It is still a waste of money.

The point is, this is the digital age and computers are a necessary tool for people to do their jobs. Spending money for the required equipment for the paramedics to do their job is not a waste. The majority of services already have Toughbooks ... I am sure that it will be a requirement from the state eventually.

I look forward to your next cost effective comment, in the form of a hand written letter to the editor ... although you would probably complain that a stamp is too much money.

It is the State which has mandated the use of computers in patient documentation, not the hospital. That is the only reason that the State has spent a whole lot of money buying ALL the ambulances in the state these computers. As for why, right now they have absolutely no idea what the ambulances are doing unless somone complains about a specific incident. The state has no way to figure out what ambulances are doing as a whole since they don't have the manpower to go through all the paper run forms. Having them computerized will allow them to mine for any data they want.
Additionally, every ambulance which has begun using computers for patient reports has had their time at the hospital completing paperwork increased dramaticaly. This will only increase the amount of time Ridgefield spends sitting at the hospital.

First of all, data mining is a hoax. It was one of the great pie-in-the-sky ideas during the internet bubble. We will know everything about everyone and voila.... well.... they didn't quite figure out how that info would be useful....

So ambulances will enter how many bandaids they used. So what? Gee boss, we used 2,309 bandaids last year. Okay what next? Does it somehow save lives knowing this inane piece of trivia?

Some computers have tremendous uses. Others do not. Some people assume that adding a computer to the mix must somehow be better. Not always true.

I still laugh at the office where I used to work. The secretaries started out with 20 MHz machines. Then the next year 25 MHz machines came on the market, so my boss thought it was important to upgrade. Then came 30 MHz. And then 40 MHz. My boss must have wasted $1,000,000 on all these new machines for the secretaries. Why? They were doing word processing. Did upgrading somehow make them type faster? Did it in anyway improve productivity?

No.

People like to buy a new toy, especially when the rest of us have to pay for it. Buying computers to keep track of the bandaids falls into the same category. It is some gimmick set up by people who don't understand computers or data.