Project ETHAN Reducing ED Transports in Houston
As the fourth-largest city in the country, Houston responds to about 800,000 9-1-1 calls each year. Many of these calls lead to unnecessary ambulance trips and emergency room visits for low-acuity patients—a serious issue that puts undue strain on the sprawling city’s first responder and healthcare systems.
To help alleviate the strain on these critical resources, the Houston Fire Department, in collaboration with the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, recently implemented an innovative new solution that is transforming the way emergency professionals respond to non-emergency 911 calls—the ETHAN (Emergency TeleHealth and Navigation) Project.
Using a Panasonic Toughpad rugged tablet, Houston Fire personnel set up a teleconference between the patient and a trained emergency medicine physician.
By reviewing the patient's vital signs remotely and asking the patient a series of questions, the physician can make an informed determination whether a trip to the ED in an ambulance is truly needed.
Integrated 4G LTE connectivity from Verizon makes the Toughpad the ideal platform to run the Cisco Jabber application that doctors use to connect with patients. The Toughpad also meets Houston Fire’s other requirements: Since the video encounters between doctors and patients are treated as medical records, the solution must meet security and HIPAA compliance requirements, and each videoconference must be able to be easily archived.
Houston Fire's ETHAN Project has been successful in avoiding costly ambulance trips and ER visits in 80% of the cases it was utilized.
