Overcoming EMS Data Overload: Tools and Tactics to Manage Information

A multi-vehicle pileup on a busy urban highway causes dozens of people to be injured. EMS teams rush to the scene to triage, treat, and transport patients to area hospitals. As they evaluate patients, they can access many of their medical histories and check for underlying conditions and medication allergies that may affect their care. At the same time, teams are monitoring medical equipment for vital signs like oxygen levels and blood pressure, as well as coordinating with hospitals to route patients for admission and share details of their injuries so that ER teams can prepare for their care.

The deluge of patient data, combined with real-time monitoring and the need to coordinate hospital transport, can be overwhelming. If it is not effectively organized and managed, too much data can result in communication errors and delayed decision-making that can lead to wasted resources and ineffective patient care.

The Impact of EMS Data Overload

While more data can help improve your efficiency and patient care, the flood of information can also overwhelm EMS teams. Manually entering data or struggling to make sense of multiple data sources can introduce errors, slow decision-making, and cause delays that impact care.

In addition, the constant bombardment of data can cause cognitive overload, leading to stress, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating and making decisions. Administrative tasks related to manual EMS data management, such as documentation and reports, can also eat up valuable time. In the worst-case scenarios, data overload can cause burnout and reduced job satisfaction, which can result in job dissatisfaction and excessive employee turnover. One recent study found that more than 50% of ambulance workers were experiencing signs of burnout.

Data overload also means EMS personnel may reduce their focus on patients, causing less interaction and personalized care. When they’re focusing on data, they may also miss critical details from the patient themselves or their physical state.

In short, while technology gives EMS teams more information that they can use to provide high-quality patient care, it’s useless or potentially even harmful if it isn’t organized and managed efficiently.

How Streamlining Data Collection and Reporting Can Help

One way to make data more organized is by improving the collection phase. Using integrated electronic Patient Care Report (ePCR) solutions like ImageTrend Elite, which combines data entry into a single workflow, reduces the need to manually enter data from different sources or re-enter data at multiple points. This approach ensures that accurate, up-to-date data is available to each user.

Automation also plays a critical role in streamlining data management. By automating routine tasks, agencies can free up time that would otherwise be spent on manual input. For example:

• Vitals and other data from medical devices like heart monitors can be automatically transferred into ePCRs.
• Voice-to-text technology can be used to enter data into ePCRs, eliminating the need to type.
• Information like timestamps and location data can automatically be added to ePCRs by EMS systems.

It’s also essential to make sure that the data is accurate. Single-point entry helps with this, but so can systems that incorporate real-time data validation and error checking. These solutions automatically flag incomplete forms or inconsistent data.

Other tactics for ensuring data quality include using features that allow preset values, which work like macros by automatically filling multiple fields with a single click, helping to reduce errors and save time.

Turning Data into Actionable Insights

Analytics can help EMS teams make sense of their data by quickly finding patterns and trends that can lead to actionable insights related to both clinical and administrative operations. Solutions like ImageTrend Continuum offer real-time analytics that can be deployed to interpret patients’ vital signs, alerting EMS teams if certain thresholds are crossed.

They can also help teams evaluate the severity of a patient’s condition, helping them choose the most appropriate hospital or informing triage decisions. 

Collecting and analyzing data over time enables EMS agencies to find inefficiencies and other opportunities for improvement. Crunching data on response times and patient survival rates and comparing results to other agencies or national standards can point to areas where improvement is needed.

Agencies can also use patterns in call volume, call processing time, transport time, and other metrics to plan workforce schedules and other resources more accurately. All of these can be used to guide continuous improvement, enhancing operational efficiency and patient care.

Enhancing Interoperability and Data Sharing

In healthcare situations where seconds can mean the difference between life and death, seamless data sharing between EMS teams and other healthcare providers is critical. Known as interoperability, it enables fast access to accurate and complete healthcare data from diverse sources and systems.

Key benefits of interoperability include:

• Bi-directional data exchange: Enables EMS teams with access to crucial patient information, such as medical history, prescriptions, and treatments administered prior to hospital arrival, ensuring continuity of care.
  
  
• Reduces errors: Minimizes the risk of communication errors that may occur through verbal or written exchanges, by directly sharing accurate data between systems.
  
  
• Streamlines operations: Eliminates manual and redundant data entry for incident documentation, billing, and other administrative tasks, saving time and resources.
  
  
• Access to patient outcomes: Allows EMS personnel to retrieve patient outcome data for reporting and analysis, improving care strategies and insights.

Make Data an Asset, Not a Burden

Data can be a valuable tool for EMS agencies. It can reveal important insights, support efficient EMS documentation, and help teams improve patient care. However, too much data or information that is poorly organized can lead to overload.

EMS provider training plays a crucial role in overcoming this challenge. When EMS providers understand why the data is important—how it contributes to better patient care, supports decision-making, and drives operational improvements—it encourages greater "buy-in" and leads to more accurate and thorough documentation.

Fortunately, there are tools and resources that can help agencies manage data more efficiently. Solutions that support data interoperability across healthcare systems allow seamless sharing of critical patient and medical information, while data analytics can help with real-time decision-making as well as monitor performance and trends over time.

If your agency is looking for a solution to solve information overload, contact us and find out how our products can organize and make sense of your data.