GoodSAM (Smartphone Activated Medics) is a system which gives medics the ability to see patients by simply sending a text message to a 999 caller’s phone.
The use of this system enables our critical care team to gather as much information as they need about the severity of the incident prior to launching the aircraft.
Our doctor and paramedic team can then make a better-informed conclusion on the extent of the incident.
By simply sending a text message to the caller, our medics gain access to a live look at the nature and extent of injuries sustained by a patient through their smartphone camera.
On one occasion, the GNAAS crew had used GoodSAM to activate the aircraft to a car crash that turned out to be more serious than first thought.
On another occasion, a member of the public’s phone allowed them to see that they were not needed. This allowed the aircraft to be made available for another incident.
The software is being used by GNAAS medical professionals around 4-5 times a week and is showing to have positive results.
GNAAS Paramedic, Tim West said: “The system is beneficial to us as a charity as it gives us more information to allow us to make a decision to deploy the aircraft.
“Asking over the phone is one thing, seeing what is going on, on scene, with your own eyes, gives us a greater awareness of injuries.
“This can assist the critical care team in targeting critical care resources to those that need it the most.”
GoodSAM’s medical director, Professor Mark Wilson, said: “Being able to see the patient and the scene without them having to download a video chat app, and getting a reading of their vital signs, dramatically improves remote assessment of illness.
“This can be through visualising the mechanisms of injury, for instance the number of vehicles involved or how sick a patient appears. This information can radically improve resource management – prioritising patients who otherwise might not have been thought of as that urgent.”
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