Rural Safety, Health, and Emergency Response
Principal Investigator:
Thomas Horan, Researcher, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Project Summary:
In response to the SAFETEA-LU legislative mandate to assess local community needs in order to improve access to mobile emergency treatment, researchers from the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety are focusing on technological developments that affect rural safety and the issues surrounding their deployment. In collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, researchers have analyzed emergency processes and data and the flow of information to understand system performance across informatics providers (e.g., OnStar), 9-1-1, medical dispatch, emergency responder, and trauma center organizations. Their goal is to develop an information framework that could act as the "gold standard" for end-to-end information sharing and performance assessment in rural areas across the United States. Sharing information about the patient, the nature and type of accident, health care interventions provided on the scene, specialties and capabilities of care centers, availability of resources, and system performance is essential. This work helps lay the foundation for more advanced information systems that will enable more efficient use of emergency resources, better medical decision making in the field and in the hospital, and improved emergency response in rural areas. The findings from this research project will aid in the development of a set of national implications. This research builds on several years of prior research sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #0535273) as well as the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) and the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute at the University of Minnesota.
Sponsor:
Project Details:
- Start date: 09/2006
- Project Status: Completed
- Research Area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow
- Topics: Rural Transportation, Safety