Goodyear Fire ditches paper, goes all-iPad

PHOENIX — The Goodyear Fire Department has traded paperwork for iPads in an effort to go paperless and improve efficiency.

The department’s emergency medical services began using the iPads to fill out patient forms and other paperwork on Sunday as part of a new system called Electronic Patient Care Reporting System, a move that Battalion Chief Russ Braden said will have enormous benefits.

“We kind of hit a home run with this one,” he said.

Using iPads in favor of traditional paper and pen will provide EMS crews the ability to easily transfer patient information to hospitals upon arrival.

“We walk in and we are giving this verbal report to the hospital once we get there, they sign a piece of paper, we finish it up, we give it to them and most hospitals are now taking that and scanning that into the patient record system,” Braden said. “Now, we are just going to transmit it to them and they’re going to be able to take that electronically put it as part of their system.”

Besides saving hospitals the headache of scanning documents into digital files, Braden said the new system will also make reviewing quality of care as easy as running digital reports, rather than leafing through stacks of paperwork.

“We really have to go grab a stack of these forms for each incident and look at them one at a time and then try to get back to the practitioner and give them feedback,” he said. “(Now) we can actually flag certain calls that would automatically be set for review and then when we review it we can actually make little notes and then send it back to them.”

One of the most important benefits expected from the new system is still forthcoming as the department continues to enhance the system’s features. Braden said the system eventually will allow EMS crews to relay important information to hospitals about patients before they arrive.

“Name, age, medical history, vital signs, what we’ve done for them up to that point and (the hospital) will have a better idea of what they’re getting for patient management, prior to us arriving at the hospital.”

Braden said in emergency situations like cardiac arrest, allowing the hospital to prepare itself can save precious seconds and possibly save lives.

The new system was developed by Tempe-based Starwest Tech International and the iPads were purchased with a grant from the Gila River Indian Community.

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