The "All Risks Ready" ER1 is a prototype crisis center being developed to deal with national emergencies including nuclear, biological and chemical attack. When completed, ER1 will be capable of handling massive patient volumes.
Major tertiary care facilities across the United States are expected to adopt and implement programs modeled on ER1. MSSI's PAL650 system will play a pivotal role in answering one of the fundamental questions raised by the project, namely, "How will a thousand victims be tracked as they move through the process of medical care?"
MSSI's UWB hardware will be integrated with Parco's middleware software to precisely position people and assets to sub-foot accuracies. In previous tests at Washington Hospital Center, MSSI's PAL650 precision asset location system demonstrated its ability to overcome a major challenge for radio frequency (RF) localization inside buildings, namely "multipath", the self-interference caused by the reflections of RF energy.
Parco's middleware software, built upon Microsoft's .NET Framework, enables ER1 personnel to quickly differentiate key geographic points from a geographical SQL database, allowing the Emergency Department to assemble mass casualty treatment sites in the field or in building. Location information is used to track patient movements throughout the hospital to greatly enhance patient care.
"MSSI's license partner, Parco Merged Media, has worked hard to bring the potential of UWB-based tracking and positioning to market in the hospital environment," stated Dr. Robert J. Fontana, MSSI president and CEO. "We are extremely pleased with the success that they have had at Washington Hospital Center, and look forward to future expansion within the MedStar Health system and other hospitals."