TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Data collection in a live mass casualty incident simulation: Automated RFID technology versus manually recorded system
JO  - European journal of emergency medicine
A1  - Ingrassia, Pier Luigi
A1  - Carenzo, Luca
A1  - Barra, Federico Lorenzo
A1  - Colombo, Davide
A1  - Ragazzoni, Luca
A1  - Tengattini, Marco
A1  - Prato, Federico
A1  - Geddo, Alessandro
A1  - Della Corte, Francesco
SP  - 35
EP  - 39
VL  - 19
IS  - 1
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the applicability and the reliability of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system to collect data during a live exercise. METHODS: A rooftop collapse of a crowded building was simulated. Fifty-three volunteers were trained to perform as smart victims, simulating clinical conditions, using dynamic data cards, and capturing delay times and triage codes. Every victim was also equipped with a RFID tag. RFID antenna was placed at the entrance of the advanced medical post (AMP) and emergency department (ED) and recorded casualties entering the hospital. RESULTS: A total of 12 victims entered AMP and 31 victims were directly transferred to the ED. 100% (12 of 12 and 31 of 31) of the time cards reported a manually written hospital admission time. No failures occurred in tag reading or data transfers. A correlation analysis was performed between the two methods plotting the paired RFID and manual times and resulted in a r=0.977 for the AMP and r=0.986 for the ED with a P value of less than 0.001. CONCLUSION: We confirmed the applicability of RFID system to the collection of time delays. Its use should be investigated in every aspect of data collection (triage, treatments) during a disaster exercise.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0969-9546
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MEJ.0b013e328347a2c7
ID  - ref1
ER  -