The Development of Intelligent, Triage-Based, Mass-Gathering Emergency Medical Service PDA Support Systems

• Published in: The Journal of Nursing Research Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 227 - 236
• Main Authors: 張博論(Po-Lun Chang), 徐月霜(Yueh-Shuang Hsu), 曾院美(Yuann-Meei Tzeng), 桑潁潁(Yiing-Yiing Sang), 侯宜菁(I-Ching Hou), 高偉峰(Wei-Fong Kao)
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China (Republic : 1949- ) 台灣護理學會 01.09.2004; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Computer User Training; Computers, Handheld - standards; Decision Support Systems, Clinical - standards; Disaster Planning - organization & administration; Efficiency, Organizational; Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems - standards; Emergency Medical Services - organization & administration; Female; Humans; Male; Mass Behavior; Medical Staff, Hospital - education; Medical Staff, Hospital - psychology; Nursing Staff, Hospital - education; Nursing Staff, Hospital - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Taiwan; Triage - organization & administration; User-Computer Interface; Taiwan; 個人數位助理; emergency medical service; 大型活動; 緊急救護服務; PDA, mass gathering; 使用者接受度; 科技接受度評估模式; user acceptance; technology acceptance model
• ISSN: 1682-3141
• DOI: 10.1097/01.JNR.0000387506.06502.90

The support systems for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) at mass gatherings, such as the local marathon or large international baseball games, are underdeveloped. The purposes of this study were to extend well-developed, triage-based, EMS Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) support systems to cover pre-hospital emergency medical services and onsite evaluation forms for the mass gatherings, and to evaluate usersʼ perceived ease of use and usefulness of the systems in terms of Davisʼ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The systems were developed based on an established intelligent triage PDA support system and two other forms- the general EMS form from the Taipei EMT and the customer-made Mass Gathering Medical form used by a medical center. Twenty-three nurses and six physicians in the medical center, who had served at mass gatherings, were invited to examine the new systems and answer the TAM questionnaire. The PDA systems were composed of 450 information items within 42 screens in 6 categories. The results supported the potential for using triage-based PDA systems at mass gatherings. Overall, most of the subjects agreed that the systems were easy to use and useful for mass gatherings, and they were willing to accept the systems.