Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) has issued an invitation to offer (IOT) for the delivery of an electronic ambulance form that allows paramedics to record patient care information on iPads at the scene of the accident.
QAS provides emergency services to more than 4.1 million people in Queensland. Approximately 2,780 paramedics are employed by the service. In 2012 QAS handled 833,000 cases and responded to 160,000 triple zero calls.
According to IOT documents, QAS rolled out the Victorian Ambulance Clinical Information System (VACIS) electronic ambulance report form to QAS paramedics across Queensland in 2006.
The VACIS system was a joint collaboration between Ambulance Victoria and QAS. But this system is now used by ambulance services in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
“In 2012, the Queensland government ICT procurement review panel approved a QAS initiative to develop a more contemporary interface for paramedics to record electronic patient information,” read the documents.
A user interface trial – which ran the ambulance report form on the iOS platform – began in late 2012 and was completed in early 2014.
“An early user experience review, that included a small sample of paramedics, concluded that the user interface for the iPad was simpler and more intuitive, with features that remove a number of data entry duplication instances that exist in VACIS,” read the documents.
The review also found that QAS would need to produce a “production quality” enterprise mobile application.
Documents state that the successful supplier would need to develop and deploy the iOS ambulance report app to all 2,780 paramedics.
The deadline for replies to the IOT is August 29, 2014.
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