Integrated Hands-Free Electronic Patient Care Report (ePCR) Charting (IHeC): Designing the Architecture

The nature of paramedic workloads typically results in incomplete or lack of patient care reports on patient handover to emergency department staff. Patient information gaps can increase emergency department staff's workload, cause care delays, and increase risks of adverse events. An integrated hands-free electronic patient care report (ePCR) could eliminate this gap. We conducted an environmental scan of the available literature on technologies to improve paramedic documentation and current advanced paramedic charting systems. Two technologies, speech recognition documentation and live telemetry sharing systems, were identified as potential improvements. A theoretical architecture for an integrated hands-free ePCR charting (IHeC) system was developed by combining these technologies. The ePCR could be completed and available upon patient arrival to the hospital using speech recognition and vital sign sharing technology. The IHeC system could solve the problem of patient information gaps and provide a platform for more advanced integration of paramedic services.