An ambulance may not be so fast at a time of heavy workload. There are not enough cars to respond to emergency calls, it is difficult to find a location of a person who got sick in the street. Up to 42% of patients do not need an ambulance at all. False alarms distract specialists from emergency cases and provoke life-threatening situations. Emergency medicine platforms help to eliminate them. Let’s consider the benefits of emergency medicine apps and the stages of healthcare software development of this kind.
How an online ambulance booking app works
An emergency medicine application is a software solution that optimizes the work of the ambulance service.
Emergency medicine software is based on communication technologies to connect the sick or the injured with doctors and rescuers. Thanks to the built-in GPS, a patient sends the exact location to doctors so that the ambulance workers can find them faster.
Such a platform allows the patient to see the vehicles available in the region and choose the appropriate emergency transport, for example, a four-wheeled car, a rescue helicopter, or a boat. The user contacts the driver of the nearest available car and indicates their location. The injured person tracks the movement of the booked car and knows exactly when it will arrive at the emergency site. Through the mobile platform, the patient communicates with the relatives by sending an SOS message.
The benefits of emergency medicine apps
Ambulance services involve patients, doctors, drivers, and owners of medical institutions where the victims are transported to. Emergency medicine apps are valuable for each of them.
Benefits for patients
With the help of an emergency medicine app, the injured promptly book an ambulance, they don’t need to hang on the phone waiting for a free operator. The functionality of the program allows them to select the nearest car of the desired type (land, air, or sea transport), size (for one patient or more), with the necessary equipment (basic facilities or an improved version).
With the help of GPS, the patient tracks the movement of the car to the site. S/he knows that the ambulance will arrive exactly in 10 minutes and not “when its turn comes”. If necessary, the patient orders the arrival of a doctor to their place of residence. The emergency service is available around the clock and serves a large number of patients at the same time.
Benefits for doctors
The timely arrival of patients to the hospital means that doctors will have time to help victims and save their lives. Since nurses provide first aid more quickly on the scene of the accident, patients avoid serious health complications. The nurses working on the call send the information to the doctor. They warn when it is necessary to prepare for the handling of patients in serious conditions. For example, if a patient urgently needs a blood transfusion, a physician asks if the receiving hospital can perform the procedure and prepare for it while the ambulance is on the way.
Benefits for ambulance drivers
The driver receives the exact location of the patient and chooses the shortest way to the scene using a built-in navigator. If there is a traffic jam on the road, the program rebuilds the route so that the car gets to the site faster. The driver also manages booking requests. When s/he sees that a colleague’s car is closer to the patient, s/he can transfer the order.
Benefits for medical institutions
The software helps to manage the ambulance fleet, track the work of drivers, and receive feedback. Based on the information received, managers eliminate errors in the work of the emergency service. New cars are added if the fleet cannot cope with the number of orders. A booking archive allows the administration of the medical institution to see in which season there are more calls. Thus, it allows planning the work schedule of drivers and doctors.
How to build an online ambulance booking app
An emergency medicine app must meet the requirements of each participant, namely, patients, doctors, drivers, and administrators. Therefore, when developing healthcare software, it is desirable to consider the following stages:
Step 1. Conduct market research
To create an application useful for ambulance teams and patients, it is necessary to research the target audience. You must determine what problems the hospital has and how to solve them using the software.
It is necessary to consider the functionality of the software so that the patient can book a car and wait no more than 10 minutes. You should find out what is missing in the software for doctors to provide prompt medical care. Drivers must clarify their wishes concerning the navigation of the program. You can compare existing solutions on the market and consider how to improve them.
Step 2. Create a list of platform features
To realize how much work needs to be done, it is worth assigning priority functions for each user of the team. The platform may consist of a patient’s account, an admin panel, doctor’s and driver’s panels, and functionality for hospital managers. You should consider the way how these parts will be integrated.
Step 3. Consider the design
The design of an emergency medicine app should be simple and clear so that a person in poor condition can quickly press the right button. It is worth providing an emergency call function for those who are not able to specify the necessary details.
Step 4. Hire specialists from a healthcare software development company
Software architecture design is not the only thing that should be kept in mind. It is necessary to decide which programming language, libraries and frameworks to use for the platform to perform its functions in the best possible way. A healthcare software development company will help you to choose the technical stack and create a program compliant with industry laws. You should find a team with experience in similar projects and expertise in HIPAA, GDPR, and other local regulations.
Conclusion
The ambulance service faces many problems that prevent timely assistance to patients who find themselves in an emergency. Emergency medicine apps guarantee that healthcare professionals will arrive on time. For a physician, this is an opportunity to save more lives. A hospital, in addition to lower mortality statistics, gets more savings because it manages the ambulance fleet better.
To get the benefits listed above, a healthcare facility should enlist the support of a healthcare software development company. A team of IT specialists will create a unique program that will optimize the work of the emergency service and protect people.
