“An operator can receive and distribute any information with just a few mouse clicks and within seconds now.”

Dr. Nenad Aracki, Chief of the Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad

Before the introduction of a new information system, the Institute for Emergency Medical Service in Novi Sad, which covers the area with around 400.000 inhabitants with its eight mobile EMS teams, has used the system based on paper-based documentation. In addition to slowing down the processes, in which every second can mean a difference between life and death, it hindered any kind of business analytics. By introducing a new system in the Dispatching Center based on Lync 2010, which is one of the first implementation of this solution in Emergency Medical Services globally, the response time of Call Center operators was reduced, who can now easily determine initial diagnostic and forward it to a dispatcher, who afterwards sends mobile teams to the location. In addition, the management is given a detailed overview of all important parameters of the Institute, which enables them to plan better the growth and development of this important institution.

Business ChallengeAt the Dispatching Center of the Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad, the most important parts of the business processes were carried out by using paper-based documentation, more exactly by manual data input into appropriate books and forms. “This way of working limited browsing of manually recorded data and it was time-consuming; analysis and statistic were unavailable in real time and precise recording of all times in the process of providing emergency medical care lead to various errors. Because of all of this, the work at the Dispatching Center was very demanding and presented a psycho-physical burden to the employees”, explains Dr. Nenad Aracki, Chief of the Institute for Emergency Medical Service in Novi Sad. In order to get various reports, the employees had to rewrite data from paper forms and insert them manually into computers that are used in administration. Since there was no server in the system, all

data were saved onto individual computers and saving, controlling and reporting with data entered in this way was unsafe and lead to potential errors.The strategic objectives of the implementation of a modern system for communication and organization were improving the work of the Institute and its modernization according to the European and world standards. “Perhaps the most important thing in these objectives was finding the way to improve the patients’ satisfaction and raise the motivation level of our employees for working on this system. We were thinking how to implement these strategic objectives and came to the only possible solution - shortening certain time parameters, since we know that in our practice time means life”, underlines Dr. Aracki.

SolutionBased on project requirements received from the Institute for Emergency Medical

Customer: Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi SadPartner: CPU, www.cpu.rs

Customer ProfileThe Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad performs all the activities related to taking care of emergency and befallen medical situations in the city of Novi Sad and its surroundings, covering an area of 60 sq. km with around 400.000 inhabitants, including interventions on about 60 km of Corridor X. Eight EMS teams – four in the city and one in each of the remote locations – perform 24-hour filed intervention. The team is extended with two ambulance vehicles for so-called “cold transport“, transporting patients by instructions of a chosen doctor. During the day, 11 vehicles are used for the emergency transportation of patients, and two vehicles are used for hemodialysis patients, while nine vehicles are left in reserve, and if needed they can be activated and made available in the short term. At the Dispatching Center there are four operators who receive calls and, if needed, forward them to the Chief of the Dispatching Service who is in charge of coordination with the teams on the field.

Product and Technologies−Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 −Windows Server 2008 R2−Microsoft Lync Server 2010−Hyper-V

Microsoft LyncApplied Solution Case Study

The communication system based on Lync improved the work of the Emergency Medical Service

Service Novi Sad, and based on the previous experience of CPU with the Emergency Medical Service in Belgrade, where this system has been maintained for more than six years, a new information and communication system for Dispatching and Call Center based on the latest Microsoft platform for Unified Communications Lync 2010 was implemented. “This is one of the first, if not the first implementation in the world in which Microsoft Lync is used as the platform for communication in emergency medical service”, underlines Vladimir Banić, the director of CPU, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that has implemented this solution at the Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad. The CPU Company is the first certified Microsoft Voice-Ready Partner in Serbia, and was rewarded as the Best Microsoft Partner in Central and Eastern Europe 2009 for previously successful implementation of Microsoft Unified Communications solutions.At total, there are about 40 users of this comprehensive information system in the Institute. The workstations are based on the Windows platform, and the servers use Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, and Hyper-V Technology, while at the center of the system is the Lync Server 2010. The implementation process lasted about nine months and included infrastructural, hardware and software improvements, as well as user training and putting the system into operation.

Benefits“We managed to shorten certain time parameters, first of all the Call Center response time. As we receive over 650 calls on a daily basis, any savings in time is very important and valuable. Now the operator can receive and distribute any information with just a few mouse clicks and within seconds”, says Dr. Aracki. Time for making decisions is shortened because the complete call history for a particular patient is available to each operator. After gathering basic information about the patient, medical problem and patient’s location, the Call Center operator determines the priority of calls and that information is forwarded to the dispatcher with a single mouse click for further processing. And then, based on the priority level, patient’s location and availability of the EMS teams in the surrounding area, the dispatcher sends the nearest one. Also, CPU

integrated a “problem list” defined by the Institute’s experts into the software, representing the most frequently reported health problems of patients. “As the Chief of the Dispatching Center, I believe that by the introduction of the new system we gain a lot in reception, triage and distribution of calls, which significantly improves health care for the population of Novi Sad“, says Dr. Srdjan Čobanov, the Chief of the Institute’s Dispatching Center. “This new system enabled us to go through earlier patient calls. Since the majority our patients suffer from chronicle diseases, they call frequently, and therefore it is now easier for our dispatcher to set the work diagnose, triage and send the EMS team to that patient“, adds Dr. Sanja Pokrajac-Nenadić, the operator in Dispatching Center at the Institute of Emergency Medical Service.“In addition to operating improvements, we also have improvements on the strategic side. For the first time, we are able to analyze and systematize all relevant data, and for the first time, being a leader, I have the ability to determine priorities in further development of this department”, concludes Dr. Nenad Aracki, Chief of the Institute for Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad. Plans for further expansion and improvement of the system include connecting remote locations with EMS teams into the system, implementation of Tablet PC or PDA devices into field team vehicles and connecting a direct link with central database in real time, as well as connecting with other health institutions in the city of Novi Sad.

© 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Document published in February 2012