The interior of an ambulance. These vehicles are filled with a variety of technology that allow paramedics across the country to save lives. (Brady Bateman/paNOW Staff)

By Brady Bateman

Advancing technology

Life saving technology; the advancement of paramedic care

Jun 10, 2019 | 5:05 PM

Following Paramedic Service Week, paNOW spent a week with the men and women of Prince Albert’s Parkland Ambulance learning about the ever-advancing technology used on a daily basis by paramedics across the country to save the lives of those who find themselves in an ambulance.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) saves lives, it’s one of a thousand techniques paramedics in Prince Albert and across Canada use on a daily basis to assist those they transport to the hospital.

What happens however, when a team of two paramedics — one of which is driving — must provide chest compressions, administer an IV, monitor critical statistics about a patient’s well-being, and provide a number of other live saving care procedures, all while riding in the back of a moving ambulance?

Up until recent years that solo paramedic would be left to do chest compressions until arrival at the nearest hospital, sometimes for lengths near an hour. Technology has now introduced new methods and equipment that helps not only those who are afflicted, but to ease the job of those administering the care.

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Equipment like the LUCAS (Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System) can help the paramedics at Prince Albert’s Parkland Ambulance and across the country save lives every day.

A LUCAS device is attached to a patient during transport and applies CPR to that patient similar to how any paramedic would. The difference between a paramedic and a LUCAS, is the machine’s ability to never tire, to never speed up or slow down, and to allow a paramedic the freedom to provide extra life saving measures during transport.

“Technology differences like the LUCAS or our monitors have made our jobs and patient care much easier. They allow one or two responders to act as three, and while we’re on those critical calls that can be the difference of someone’s life, Craig Dumais, a primary-care paramedic with Parkland Ambulance said.

“With us, in our industry, an extra set of hands is invaluable. It really is priceless to have anything that can free us up to help people better and faster,” Dumais said.

For Parkland Ambulance paramedics like Jenna Henry, there are a number of devices used on a daily basis to provide her the ease and proficiency to do job.

Liquid-ride ambulances allow for the raising or lowering of ride height, making it easier to move patients in and out of the vehicles. Hydraulic equipped stretchers allow for patients far larger than those transporting them to be easily maneuvered, saving paramedics from straining and possibly injuring themselves. Transport chairs equipped with military-inspired tracks allow for patients to be moved down staircases in a safer manner, while also saving paramedics from dangerously lifting those they are sent to help.

The Stryker Power Cot is a stretcher which utilizes hydraulics to allow paramedics to easily lift and lower patients much larger than them without risking injuring themselves. (Brady Bateman/paNOW Staff)

“I’ve been here for 10 years, and there have been some major changes in that time. One of the biggest would have to be the Stryker power cots – the stretchers. They do a lot of the lifting and moving we would have used to do,” Henry said.

“It reduces the risk of back injury and makes it a lot easier to have a longer career in EMS because a lot of what ends EMS careers is back injuries. It makes it so much easier to load a patient in with just one person and just being able to lift patients from lower stretcher height to the loading height with a push of a button makes it so much easier.”

The Stryker Stair-Chair is a product of modern technology. It allows paramedics to safely lower patients much larger than them down stairs, without the risk of injuring themselves or the patient. (Brady Bateman/paNOW Staff)

Although technological advances have made it easier for paramedics to do their job, when speaking to those on the front lines, it’s clear that there is no substitute for the human touch and human intuition.

Brody Anderson works as a community paramedic with Parkland Ambulance and explained the continued importance of the human touch in the role.

“We’ve had people that are great at this job, but just don’t have that human connection and that really can put an end to a career in this field. You have to be able to connect with people when you’re helping them,” Anderson said.

“We’ve had a lot of advances in the technology that we use to help people but at the end of the day the most important part is still the paramedic and their ability to personally help the people who call us.”

Anderson demonstrated a wide array of the varying technology used on a daily basis to help patients, also showcasing technology that is still in the testing phase. One piece of technology that may soon be used by paramedics around the country and those in Prince Albert is an AirTraq video laryngoscope, which is used for indirect tracheal intubation in difficult airway situations.

The device allows paramedics to accomplish the goal of a traditional tracheal intubation – allowing oxygen into a patient’s system when they are unable to do so themselves – but is equipped with a camera screen on the device to allow for a constant view of a patients trachea, making intubation easier and safer.

An AirTraq Laryngoscope allows paramedics to use the improvements in video technology to view the interior of an intubated patients throat, making it easier to properly intubate in difficult situations when seconds can be the difference between life and death. (Brady Bateman/paNOW Staff)

Paramedics in the field today are required to do more advanced care, at much higher rates than that of a paramedic in the field 20 years ago. Training for then Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), involved several weekend courses, and culminated with EMTs being able to transport patients and provide basic care such as administering oxygen and monitoring critical stats.

Today’s primary care and advanced care paramedics are expected to follow rigorous guidelines on patient care and do so while maintaining quick turnaround speeds. Paramedics now deliver life saving drugs, monitor stats, administer intravenous drugs and in some locations are starting to provide services like portable CT scans, according to Parkland Ambulance Director of Public Affairs Lyle Karasiuk, who entered the field more than 30 years ago.

“Technology in medicine has changed in a lot of ways in the same way as stuff like video games. The changes have made our devices much smaller and allows for the transfer of data and information in amazing new ways. Prince Albert’s hospital is not yet equipped for it, but the technology exists for our paramedics to send stuff like an ECG (electrocardiogram) through the wonderful world of technology,” Karasiuk said.

“There’s also an added factor of our paramedics’ safety. With something like the LUCAS, with that equipped it negates the need to have an unsecured paramedic in the back of a vehicle. What would happen if that paramedic was unsecured, providing CPR and the vehicle happened to be hit by another car? The technology makes the job safer for us, and the people we’re helping.”

Karasiuk added technology is an ever-changing market. He noted as technology in other sectors like military and entertainment improve, the trickle-down effect can lead to new and innovative devices that will allow those in the paramedic field to continue providing more and more advanced, safer, and life saving care to those they help save every day.

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Brady.bateman@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TheDigitalBirdy