Time is of the utmost importance in emergency medicine. The patient’s chance of survival decreases with every minute that passes, especially during hospital transport. Helping patients can be difficult when there is a shortage of essential equipment or when they are in geographical areas that are difficult to reach. Therefore, it is important to incorporate communication technology into the field of emergency medicine to reduce mortality rates. CMU proudly introduces ‘CMUGency’, a patient monitor that can measure a 12 lead ECG, blood pressure, oxygen saturation as well as heart rate. It will be used in ambulances to assess the patient’s condition while being transported and the data will be synced to the system at the destination hospital, allowing physicians to prepare for rescue.
The CMU Institute of Biomedical Engineering, the Faculty of Public Health, and San Sai Hospital have joined forces to develop a patient monitor with wireless communicative functions, the CMUGency. Patient monitors that measure vital signs such as electrocardiogram, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation is essential to patient care during hospital transport. The CMUGency will measure these signs and display the results to the professionals in the ambulance, while transmitting location data of the ambulance to the physicians at the destination hospital through the mobile network, allowing them to check the patient’s vital signs in real-time. This device comes with a complementary app, called CMUGency. The functions are divided into four user categories. The patient, or victim, can call for an ambulance and the coordinating center will be able to check the locations of the patient and the ambulance, as well as being able to choose a suitable ambulance. The professionals working on the ambulance can contact the coordinating center and observe the locations of the vehicle and the patient. As for the medical professionals at the destination hospital, the app will allow them to locate the ambulance and monitor the patient’s vital signs in real-time.
After two years of development, CMUGency has been used by several hospitals in Chiang Mai, to include San Sai, Nakornping, Chiang Dao, Mae Taeng, Sa Moeng, Wiang Haeng, Phrao and Wat Chan Chalerm Phrakiat Hospitals. This invention helps to increase efficiency, reduce mortality and increase the survival rates of emergency patients. CMU strives to keep innovating, which is the key to system development. This innovation is like a storage of physicians’ wealth of knowledge in every ambulance which allows more lives to be saved. It is a milestone that signifies an international standard quality of service.