AI to ID cardiac arrests on 000 calls
Ambulance Victoria will receive $1.71 million from the state government’s Safer Care Victoria Innovation Fund for two projects set to improve emergency response care.
The Artificial Intelligence in Cardiac Arrest project will receive $1.36 million to help ESTA triple zero operators identify signs of cardiac arrest over the phone, which is estimated to save an additional 185 lives each year.
The artificial intelligence technology runs in the background of incoming emergency calls, picking up on key words, language and sound patterns of the caller that indicate the patient is having a cardiac arrest.
If the system recognises signs of a cardiac arrest, it alerts the ESTA triple zero call-taker to dispatch a high-priority ambulance and talk bystanders through CPR or defibrillation. Ambulance Victoria will be working with Monash University to develop the technology.
“In a cardiac arrest, every second counts,” Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos said.
“Cutting-edge artificial intelligence will help paramedics get to the scene of a cardiac arrest faster — reducing the chance of brain damage and giving them a greater chance of surviving.”
Ambulance Victoria will receive an additional $350,000 to provide mental-health-related emergency callers with an option to use SMS to initiate a video call.
The limitations of voice-only triage are many people who call triple zero with a mental health concern often end up being transported to an emergency department by ambulance, causing distress and delaying face-to-face specialist care.
Ambulance Victoria’s Tele-HELP project will facilitate emergency video calls with an experienced mental health nurse, allowing the nurse to more accurately assess the person and potentially provide face-to-face care sooner.
Ambulance Victoria Director Centre for Research and Evaluation Professor Karen Smith said, “It is exciting to be working in collaboration with Safer Care Victoria, and with support from these innovation grants we’ve developed new tools to support decision-making and appropriate ambulance response.”
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