Industrial - Bachelors
MediMark represents an innovative alternative to conventional patient ID bracelets. Through the seamless transfer of patient information and tracking of their vital signs, it encapsulates the entire handover process within the emergency department into one system. Accelerating the admission process, thereby reducing the wait times for patients seeking admission to the Emergency Department via Ambulance.
Ambulance Ramping is defined or further known as patient off-stretcher time, meaning the amount of time from when a patient is offloaded from an ambulance to the point they receive care from hospital staff. Ambulance Ramping occurs when delays to the Emergency Department are experienced due to over-capacity. Throughout 2022, patients spent more than 111 697 hours in the back of ambulances waiting for an empty hospital bed. With Queensland Hospitals aiming for 90% of patients to be transferred within 30 minutes, finding a solution to create an effective system is paramount.
The issue of Ambulance Ramping within Queensland’s hospitals is a growing concern. The accumulation of patients in Emergency Departments during peak hours due to limited acute bed availability contributes to this problem. Unfortunately, there is no immediate resolution to this issue as it stems from multiple factors.
The cumulative effects of these factors place a significant burden on the system, resulting in paramedics providing care to patients in either the emergency department or the back of the ambulance rather than delivering services to the community. This increases the risk of secondary injuries and exacerbates the likelihood of nurse and paramedic burnout, resulting from high levels of stress.
Understanding the whole system, from patient intake to patient outtake, is needed to find the area in which intervention is appropriate. During the process of Expert Interviews, Literature Reviews and Surveys, it was found that ambulance patient drop-off and its connection to the Emergency Department system directly connect to patient drop-off times and admission times. The measure of the time it takes to handover the patient from paramedics to hospital staff determines how long the patient is ‘ramped’ for. ‘Handover’ is known as the time between patient transportation into triage and transfer of care from paramedics to clinical staff. It refers to the time it takes to complete the handover process and determines how long the patient must wait to receive treatment.
Covid has only uncovered the cracks that were already existing in the system and have been for many years.
Dr clare skinner – the australasian college for emergency college for emergency medicine, 2022
MediMark is an innovative alternative to traditional wasteful identification bands. MediMark is primarily used by patients classified as level 3-5 during the triage process, allowing the seamless transfer of patient information through the wearable. Paramedics and Nurses can expedite the handover without wasting precious time conversing and manually recording information. Using its companion MediMark app, paramedics can record key patient handover information en route to the hospital and instantly upload it onto a MediMark device ready for nurses to view upon arrival. The goal of MediMark is to allow patients to receive the best level of care available, additionally acting as a monitoring device, ultimately resulting in a reduced number of secondary injuries sustained while waiting for treatment.
The MediMark has an array of different interfaces that can prompt the user. Starting from left to right, to switch on the MediMark, press the main button. It will instantly scan for an external device to transfer information. Once an external device is held in close proximity, the MediMark will sync with the device to begin the process of patient handover information. Once information has been successfully transferred, the patient’s main identification can be viewed on the screen at all times. During unfortunate circumstances in which they may have to wait for treatment, the MediMark will prompt and monitor their key vital signs every 15 minutes and notify the nurses if their situation worsens. After the treatment is completed, all patient information can be deleted from the MediMark by holding the button for 10 seconds.
The companion MediMark app allows paramedics and nurses to log in and view patient information instantly and securely. The MediMark app requires nurses and paramedics to log in with their identification to protect patient information. Paramedics are able to log patient information into the app en route to the hospital and seamlessly send the information to the patient’s assigned MediMark. Nurses can use the app to scan the incoming patient’s MediMark to instantly view this information for handover and simultaneously send it to their database for regulatory and record-keeping matters. The app also allows nurses to view which patients have been waiting the longest for care and predict when care can be provided using machine learning. The app also notifies nurses of incoming ambulances and patients who require immediate attention for their vital signs.
The primary objective of MediMark is to transform the handover system. Streamlining the process of admitting patients into the Emergency Department aims to mitigate delays and communication breakdowns. Its systematic approach optimizes patient flow and resource allocation, reducing ambulance congestion and faster turnaround times. This results in better patient outcomes through timely care.
Just as pain is a symptom of a broken bone, ambulance ramping is a symptom of a lack of capacity and integration in the health system. We don’t treat the pain and ignore the broken bone. And to cure ambulance ramping, we don’t treat the symptoms; we need to cure the system-wide problem
AECM PRESIDENT, DR CLARE SKINNER – 2022
Winston's passion for Industrial Design stems from the ever-growing design community, collaborating to help resolve problems through design in many unique ways. He's excited about future opportunities, through which Industrial Design can offer due to its such wide variety of fields. Winston has gained a wide range of knowledge in Concepting, Prototyping and Manufacturing and is ready utilise these skills in the professional industry.