Appointment(s):

Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Ambassador to Haiti, American College of Emergency Medicine
Medical Director, Keokuk County Ambulance Service

College(s): Medicine

Emergency room staff need as much information as they can get as they prepare for incoming accident victims. One novel approach gives first responders digital tools to capture and send photographs of the vehicles back to the ER, images than can provide vital clues about the likely nature of the patient’s injuries. TraumaHawk is a pilot project developed by Chris Buresh and project principal investigator Dan McGehee, director of the Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Research Division at the UI Public Policy Center. The mobile phone app allows state troopers on the scene of a crash to send photos of the damaged vehicle to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. This faster relay of information allows ER physicians and nurses to gain a better sense of the severity of patients’ injuries so they have proper rooms, equipment, and personnel available even before the ambulance makes a preliminary medical report. The research is funded by the Iowa Department of Transportation, and the app was developed by Denise Szecsei of the UI’s Department of Computer Science.

Banner location: not on display—