ATHNready Disaster Preparedness Technology Tools – Emergency Room Personnel Weigh In
The ATHNready disaster preparedness technology tools—the Personal Health Report delivered on a USB flash drive and the web-based HTC-Finder—received high marks from potential users during two separate studies conducted this year.
The most recent study consisted of telephone interviews with emergency medicine physicians and nurses currently working in a wide range of emergency room settings. In addition to examining the perceptions of the ATHNready: Personal Health Report among emergency medical personnel, this study sought insight into the potential benefits and barriers to the tool’s use in emergency departments.
Emergency medicine physicians and nurses saw value in the information contained in the ATHNready: Personal Health Report and thought that they would be likely to use it if patients, parents or other caregivers presented it to them in the emergency department. They saw it as the kind of concise, organized salient core medical history that would be needed to provide appropriate care in a timely manner. They also saw the information as particularly valuable for emergency physicians and nurses treating patients that may be from outside their hospital system and for those who very rarely see patients with bleeding disorders.
Overall, the emergency medical physicians and nurses interviewed liked the ATHNready: Personal Health Report particularly because they could use it to expedite and improve the quality of care provided to bleeding disorder patients. They saw the tool as a welcome source of medical information that patients and family members, if possible, should introduce upfront in the emergency department to ensure it is used and provides value both to them and the medical staff.
Some participants recommended changes to the flash drive’s design to improve recognition of it as a device containing emergency medical information, particularly if a patient is unconscious and someone else cannot present the flash drive to him/her. Others suggested a need to educate the emergency medical community to make it more aware of patients using flash drives as a source of medical documentation so that personnel are likely to look for them as they do for Medic Alert.
This study, funded under CDC Cooperative Agreement #5U27DD000319, complemented a series of four focus groups conducted earlier this year. Participating patients and families from seven HTCs across the country reviewed the tools and offered feedback about how they might use them and whether the tools might be helpful in disaster and/or emergency situations. They reported seeing significant value in both tools and felt they would use them for broader purposes as well as for disaster and emergency preparedness. For example, they believed they would use the Personal Health Report on the USB flash drive to
- assist with advocating for their or their child’s care with medical personnel, including emergency room practitioners, primary care providers and dentists;
- educate medical personnel about their or their child’s bleeding disorder to ensure appropriate care;
- keep health information readily accessible in travel/emergency bags, cars (e.g., with vehicle registration documents) and other locations;
- print reports whenever needed for important gatekeepers, such as teachers, babysitters and grandparents and
- complement Medic Alert, travel letters and other forms of tracking health information.
Focus group participants also proposed recommendations to enhance the flash drive, such as adding educational content about the treatment of bleeding disorders, and saw the HTC Finder as a valuable tool to assist in planning vacations and to identify a source of care, if needed unexpectedly, when traveling. In addition, they recommended the HTC Finder tool be made available on websites they may regularly visit such as the NHF, CDC and their HTC’s website.
If you haven’t already, click on the HTC Finder. While you are there, review your HTC’s information to confirm that it is up-to-date. And, as a service to your patients, we encourage you and your local chapter to link to the HTC Finder from your website.
