Figure 1.
The telemedicine device is securely mounted to the ceiling of the ambulance (A) and allows bidirectional audiovisual communication between the patient and the teleconsultant via integration of a microphone, speakers, a screen and a 360° view camera (B). The teleconsultant has mobile access to the telemedicine platform using a lightweight laptop computer with touch screen, integrated microphone, speakers and a webcam (C).
Figure 2.
Flow diagram of the FACT study.
Table 1.
Patient and intervention characteristics.*
Table 2.
Detailed overview of the prehospital telemedicine diagnoses and the final in-hospital diagnose.
Figure 3.
Box-and whisker plots demonstrating bandwidth per prehospital teleconsultation.
Box-and whisker plots demonstrating mean (A) and maximal (B) bandwidth per prehospital teleconsultation for download (from the ambulance to the teleconsultant) and for upload (from the teleconsultant to the ambulance). Hatched boxes represent teleconsultations outside of office hours; white boxes teleconsultations during office hours. Significant differences are indicated with * (P<0.05) or with ** (P<0.001).
Table 3.
Bandwidth and data transfer during prehospital teleconsultation*.
Figure 4.
Map of Brussels indicating connectivity during prehospital telemedicine consultations.
Map of Brussels indicating the location of the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (H) and the patient locations according to connectivity during prehospital telemedicine consultations (no signal loss: green ambulance; transient signal loss: yellow ambulance; permanent signal loss: red ambulance) during office hours (A) and outside office hours (B).