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The Lansing Fire Department is pro-actively moving toward electronic Emergency Medical Services (EMS) reporting according to Fire Chief Scott Purcell.  Purcell told fire commissioners that representatives from emsCharts, a company that provides electronic reporting software, have demonstrated their product to Lansing EMS responders.

“It's probably going to be State mandated,” Purcell says.  “I know there is some concern about electronic systems and how much harder they are.  It's going to come to that anyway, so we might as well get used to it.”

PCR (Pre-hospital Care Report) forms must be filled out for each EMS response.  Currently a three page multi-part form is used across the state, with strict requirements for filing copies with the State and storing them locally.  The NYS Department of Health has begun accepting the forms electronically from reporting entities that meet State requirements and have received permission to file electronically.  Locally the Dryden and McLean Fire Departments and Bangs Ambulance Service use the software to file electronically.

“It's going to save filing cabinet space,” Purcell says.  “We have to keep PCRs (Pre-hospital Care Reports) for at least seven years for adults.  If we answer a call for an infant that's three months old we have to keep it until his 21st birthday.”

Initially the forms will be filed at the fire station when EMS responders return after an emergency call.  If the department chooses to, the company provides versions that work on PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) devices that could be used to fill out the forms at the scene of an accident.

Purcell says that the software will eventually provide shortcuts when filling out the forms.  Information for patients who have previously been entered into the system would not have to be re-entered.  The software will cost the district about $1,200 per year if the district adopts it.

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