Full control in crisis situations

Crisis situations tend to be hectic and chaotic, and often involve multiple injuries. Experience shows that it is easy to lose track of what is happening, both during and after an accident.

SINTEF has been working with several agencies, companies and research institutes in the EU Bridge project, to show how new technology can be used to give crisis teams much better control of a situation.

"At the moment, people spend a lot of time phoning each other to coordinate their work. As soon as more than five people have been injured in a crisis situation, it is easy to lose track of what is happening", explains Jan Skjetne of SINTEF ICT.

The research project is working on two specific systems which it is endeavouring to get onto the market:

• Keeping full track: Achieves a better overview and requires less coordination, with the aid of technology. The first stage addresses keeping track of all patients between the scene of the accident and their place of treatment, by displaying their location and vital signs, such as their pulse, using an armband.
• Better training: Training is often an expensive and neglected area. The SINTEF project shows that the use of virtual reality not only reduces the costs of training, but also make it simpler.

"This is critical in terms of rescuing survivors. Everything we can do to improve treatment and start it a little earlier will save lives. These days, most communication takes place via people's phones, and a crisis team cannot keep track of individuals", explains Jan H Skjetne.

The armband is not just a tracking device

"It provides early information about the patient who is about to be treated, which means that treatment can also be started more quickly. If there are multiple patients, it also provides a better basis from which to prioritise which patients should be treated first", says Skjetne.

Better training with virtual reality will also save lives

"Training in complex situations requires a lot of resources and is difficult to provide. Research has shown that repetitions have a major effect on the outcome of training, so by using virtual reality, you can train people in more complex situations", explains Skjetne.

Norwegian version, click here