Researchers in Aberdeen, Scotland, have been awarded an £11.8m (€14m) grant from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council to develop a device to provide medical advice for the first person to arrive at the scene of a car crash.
The device, which is in its initial stages of development, will gather and analyse vital signs from a sensor placed on the casualty’s body.
It will ask the person who arrives at the scene to input key information, give advice on the signs they should look for to determine the casualty’s condition, and outline the actions they should take.
In addition, the hand held device will pass-on information in advance of the casualty’s arrival at hospital via a mobile device or broadband connection.
The development is being led by a team of clinicians, computing scientists and physiologists from dot.rural, the University of Aberdeen’s research hub which investigates how digital technologies can transform rural communities and businesses.
The team will work alongside the emergency services and build on previous work with Intelesens, a company from the University of Ulster which creates wireless monitoring.
Professor David Godden, joint project leader from the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Rural Health said: “We are investigating the creation of a device which would provide crucial support for the first person to arrive on the scene-helping them to make decisions and store key information on the injured person’s condition.
“It will also constantly monitor the person’s condition and any change, for example, a dramatic rise in heart rate would signal an alert that action needed to be taken. The technology could also have potential to be transferred for use in situation in the home-for example heart or asthma attacks.”
A major part of the research will look at how complex data can be translated into simple and understandable text for the user and how the device would function in adverse weather conditions or noisy areas.
The research into the device will start this month and will continue for three years.
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