By LaRAYE BROWN
larayebrown@sanduskyregister.com

PERKINS TWP.

Some high-tech new equipment is designed to eliminate potential diagnostic pitfalls for patients of Perkins Township Fire Department medics.

Monday, crews began using an electronic reporting system which allows paramedics to easily compile information in the field.

The $19,000 system came with software, four handheld computers and three printers which use infrared signals to communicate with computers.

Perkins Fire Department Capt. Bill Bechstein displays the department's new Clayton IDS system, a handheld computer unit, which allows emergency personnel to easily input information to the computer while still in the field. (Register photo/ABIGAIL BOBROW)

While enhancing emergency medical service reporting may seem like a small step, Capt. Bill Bechstein said it will be greatly beneficial to the department.

"This is the beauty of the thing: Improper reporting is going to be a thing of the past," Bechstein said.

With the new system, medics enter patient information into handheld computers while at the scene and during the trip to the hospital. The computer software then uses information to compile a narrative report which the medics can edit as needed.

By the time the ambulance arrives at the hospital, the report is ready to be printed, meaning hospital staff will no longer have to wait up to 20 minutes for the medics to complete a hand-written report.

"They will get it faster from us and they'll get it a lot moreaccurately," Bechstein said.

And the staff won't have to decipher illegible handwriting, potentially a big problem considering that many drugs have similar names although they are completely different products.

With the new system, drug names are listed on pull-down menus, so the medics can include in the report what drugs were administered during the ambulance ride and what drugs the patient is taking.

Also listed on pull-down menus are all the street names in the area. The software also calculates age.

Patients who are able can use a stylus to sign the screen of the laptop to acknowledge they have received a copy of the federal patient privacy regulations.

"It's just like the UPS (computer)," Bechstein said. "They sign right on the screen and when we print out our report, we have their electronic signature."

Bill Burger, one of the department's firefighter medics, said the new system will save as much as 40 minutes on each report.

After reports are downloaded to desktop computer, they are sent to the state and to MBI Solutions, the suburban Dayton company the township hired in April to serve as its third-party billing agency.

MBI Solutions charges the township 10 percent of what it collects.

Jerry Baumgardner, chairman of the board of trustees, said the new reporting system will make it easier for the township to report to MBI, thereby reducing the cost of the contract.

He said he was unsure of the new rate.

"They are just going to give us a better rate," Baumgardner said. "By the time (the fire department) send(s) the report, it's already completed. All they have to do is send the bill out."