CodestrokeAmbulance is meant to be used to augment exist existing communications systems of pre-hospital emergency medical services. Currently, most pre-hospital services relay sensitive patient information via radio transmission to hospitals, but this is inherently insecure since this type of transmission is over the air. CodestrokeAmbulance securely (SSL protocol) submits preliminary data to a remote server (where data is encrypted at rest), thus solving the issues of secure transmission and data integrity (HIPAA Safe Harbor). After the app user (a paramedic or EMT in an ambulance) submits data, he or she will be notified through the app of the patients 6 character ID (generated by the server). This Patient ID can be used to retrieve information about the patient from the CodestrokeEmergency and CodestrokeNeurology apps. A timestamp (unique to CodestrokeAmbulance) is also created. This is useful in record-keeping by the various medical agencies. The timestamp is different from the Last Known Well (LKW) field present in CodestrokeAmbulance, as LKW is the most recent time the patient was in a stable condition. LKW can be acquired by paramedics in the field talking to friends and family of the patient.
This app is supposed to be used first before CodestrokeEmergency and CodestrokeNeurology. After the CodestrokeAmbulance user submits data and the patient arrives at the hospital, CodestrokeEmergency is used to submit updates to the data (by ER physicians/nurses). Finally, CodestrokeNeurology is used by the attending neurologist who is taking care of the stroke patient in the ER to quickly review the previously gathered data. Importantly, the neurologist will have had an opportunity to review this data even before seeing the patient. This allows for potentially more efficient patient care- Time is Brain!
1) This app (CodestrokeAmbulance) is intended to be used by pre-hospital providers, who are treating an acute stroke patient, specifically EMTs/Paramedics.
2) The application serves as a secure communications tool, using HIPAA-compliant SSL encryption, for the
above professionals to provide early notification of a patients status. It is intended to supplement, but not
replace the primary medical communications channel. It is mostly a tracking tool primarily (similar to paperwork transferred amongst staff) which, while not incorporating all concepts of telemedicine (audio/video), is very useful.
3) The application is free and not intended to access paid content/services.
4) Users need to register for this free service directly with the company before they can use the app.
5) CodestrokeAmbulance, if approved, will be a private app, able to be downloaded by businesses (who contact the developers) through the Volume Purchase Program.