Working group Digital Emergency Medicine

From Apps, Decision aids, Smart Health and Virtual Reality to Telemedicine

How patients are treated in emergency- and acute medicine is subject to rapid change. Learning and working processes in acute medicine are changed by digital aids and the handling as well as opportunities and threats are often unclear and require training. Doctors today grow up in the digital age with smartphones, apps and smart devices and use them in their daily lives. However, the skills that are learned and applied are still insufficient and only partially transferable for daily use in medical professional work with patients. This change does not only take place on the side of the doctor/medical student:

  • Change from knowledge-based education to process-oriented education and clinical work: From textbook to Dr. Google
  • Integration of Decision Aids and Smartphone Apps as medical products in the everyday life of an acute physician: Medical Calculators, Scoring/Triagesoftware
  • There is a whole spectrum of tele-emergency medicine: from algorithm-based apps to video-physician-based remote treatment. Telemedicine, i.e. the remote emergency treatment of patients, can improve access to emergency treatment in emergency medicine and could contribute to bringing specialists to the periphery and reducing the rural shortage of physicians.
  • “Artificial intelligence is a buzzword in all media”. Applications of artificial intelligence algorithms in the context of "decision aids" but also machine learning applications in image recognition and processing of vital signs/laboratory values are a major topic.

But also on the patient's side:

  • The informed patient: communication and interaction with these patients, legal aspects
  • Smart Health: data protection risks, dealing as a physician with e.g. Apple watch detected atrial fibrillation

The working group should create the opportunity to exchange experiences, discuss basic principles and develop a common standard.

Proposed objectives of the working group

  • Meeting point of emergency phycicians interested in digital transformation
  • Support and participation in the development of the future of "digital emergency medicine" featuring opportunities and risks of technological innovations
  • Exploring possibilies of integrating digital competencies into the training of an emergency physician
  • Use of digital technologies in emergency medicine e.g. Virtual reality simulation training, decision aids
  • Exchange and coordination or participation in research projects in the area of digital emergency medicine
  • Exchange experiences, discuss basic principles and develop a common standard for emergency telemedicine.
  • Applications of machine learning in emergency medicine and its limits, opportunities and ethical implications have to be discussed.

 

Workgroup expertise

Please click on the name to see what is the group members' expertise in the field of Digital EM

Thomas Sauter, Chair, Switzerland

Wilhelm Behringer, Board Liaison, Germany

Göksu Bozdereli Berikol, Turkey

Farah Islam, Poland

Thomas Deserno, Germany

Nicolai Spicher, Germany

Working group chair: Thomas Sauter

Board Liaison: Wilhelm Behringer, Secretary