Uber app for ambulance services

[midnightcaller]

On Friday morning , I decided to sign up for uber. I wanted to try out the service. I was amazed to see how easy it was to order a car. And in the app , I could see where the cars where and how long it would take to get to me.

Then on Friday afternoon, a co worker turn very ill at his desk. I called for first aid and requested an ambulance. The ambulance got lost trying to find our office park. It took 60 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

So here I am wondering , how is it possible that the uber app can determine my location, tell me where a car is, allow me to order one and then tell me how long it will get to me.
And,
It takes an ambulance 60 minutes.

Why can't we put the uber app into the hands of some ambulance drivers?

 

[NeonNinja]

Idea FTW.

 

[ld13]

Both sides of the 'call' need a smartphone (gps, data connection etc) type of a device ... that means initial capital outlay and then continuous monthly expenses. Money talks.

 

[medicnick83]

In the Western Cape, we already have a 'MDT' in our ambulances - basically, a tablet that has software on for ambulance dispatching (mobile dispatching terminal) and using this, it can 'direct by address' or 'direct by co ordinates'

Suffice to say, in testing (it's been at my division for about a month) I have found both to be very inaccurate and there are many factors because of this.

It can be done OP, but just our system has costed over R300 million so far and we still have so many issues to resolve but it's a promising system.
From what I understand, once it's sorted for us, the rest of the country will get it - the Western Cape is yet again pioneering a new system!

 

[MickeyD]

AFAIK every ambulance already has a tracker unit installed. Their operations centre should know exactly where they are.

I can guess that many state owned ambulances have "glitches" with their tracking devices, even though we are paying for it.

I can also guess that some of the dispatchers in the operations centres are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

I know that there are not enough serviceable state owned ambulances available and most calls are outsourced to private ambulance companies.

Sort out the underlying issues and your response times will improve.

 

[medicnick83]

AFAIK every ambulance already has a tracker unit installed. Their operations centre should know exactly where they are.

True! We do have, but there are a couple here and there that don't work correctly (don't update as often as others)

I can also guess that some of the dispatchers in the operations centres are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Also true - they are human and because of that, where 1 dispatcher makes a good decision, the other won't - I often want to strangle some of the dispatchers...

I know that there are not enough serviceable state owned ambulances available and most calls are outsourced to private ambulance companies.

MickeyD; this is a very interesting discussion to have; Most times, if no one is stick or on leave, we can have up to 16 ambulances running for thew Metropole area in Cape Town (From False Bay, to Retreat, to Pinelands, to Sea Point, Camps Bay to Brooklyn/Milnerton to Atlantis) and we still (on our first night) took over 47 calls from day shift. It's not about having enough ambulances (though, it is to some extent) it's about the calls that people consider "ambulance calls" - I get calls for sore throats, banged toes, coughs for weeks etc I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this, but while i'm busy with that 'not emergency' a 'emergency' comes in, that 1 resource is busy. Just keep in mind how many people there are in Cape Town and how many ambulances there are... Please please please keep that in mind - and that's just for my area... Imagine Khayaletcha division or Mitchell's Plain division etc.

Private services have agreements with us (Or some do) and assist, but you must remember, they'll rather do 'paying' calls than 'non paying' calls.

I know outside of Western Cape, the ambulance (state) services are a joke and have issues, but in the WC, I'm super proud of our ambulance service.
I have an issue with my ambulance, I book it off and it gets fixed.

We recently got lots of new ambulances - Check my Twitter feed for that information.

And when it comes to ambulances being late or whatever - sometimes, it's human error - its life. It happens.
What YOU consider really sick, is not really REALLY sick... it's just SICK to YOU but like I said, a medical practitioner is best to judge.

 

[MickeyD]

I know outside of Western Cape, the ambulance (state) services are a joke and have issues, but in the WC, I'm super proud of our ambulance service.
I have an issue with my ambulance, I book it off and it gets fixed.

We recently got lots of new ambulances - Check my Twitter feed for that information.

Yep, I'm relating our EC experience!

 

[Sinbad]

Not great here in GP either. Little girl for taken very ill down the road (extreme fever, convulsions, breathing stopped) . Parents hit the panic button and the security company took the kid to the fire station to load her into a machine with life support equipment to take her to hospital. No ambulances available. She's OK now thanks to the firemen and the quick thinking security Co.

 

[medicnick83]

Not great here in GP either. Little girl for taken very ill down the road (extreme fever, convulsions, breathing stopped) . Parents hit the panic button and the security company took the kid to the fire station to load her into a machine with life support equipment to take her to hospital. No ambulances available. She's OK now thanks to the firemen and the quick thinking security Co.

But you just mentioned a problem.
Too little ambulances, too many people.

 

[midnightcaller]

Just to give one extra piece of information about the location of this incident yesterday afternoon.

Midrand , Johannesburg
Office park is off new road

 

[Sinbad]

But you just mentioned a problem.
Too little ambulances, too many people.

Indeed. And the ones that are around break down

 

[medicnick83]

Indeed. And the ones that are around break down

But that's up to the workshops to have sorted or to be replaced if they are not worth fixing.
It's up to the Governments - and we know how many of those - like some medics who need help with directions (map books, GPSs etc) need help to do their own jobs like allocate budgets correctly.

 

[krycor]

In the Western Cape, we already have a 'MDT' in our ambulances - basically, a tablet that has software on for ambulance dispatching (mobile dispatching terminal) and using this, it can 'direct by address' or 'direct by co ordinates'

Suffice to say, in testing (it's been at my division for about a month) I have found both to be very inaccurate and there are many factors because of this.

It can be done OP, but just our system has costed over R300 million so far and we still have so many issues to resolve but it's a promising system.
From what I understand, once it's sorted for us, the rest of the country will get it - the Western Cape is yet again pioneering a new system!

Hopefully they integrated with a google maps (which incl. waze) for routing vs traffic data? Generally I find that navigation has been decent but I guess when your data is with higher incidences the failure rate will increase so my 10% is like 1 time and in an ambulance it could be 100 times which can be fatal. Interesting nonetheless.

Always wondered about the costs but yah.. seems pretty pricy.

 

[Kosmik]

In the Western Cape, we already have a 'MDT' in our ambulances - basically, a tablet that has software on for ambulance dispatching (mobile dispatching terminal) and using this, it can 'direct by address' or 'direct by co ordinates'

Suffice to say, in testing (it's been at my division for about a month) I have found both to be very inaccurate and there are many factors because of this.

It can be done OP, but just our system has costed over R300 million so far and we still have so many issues to resolve but it's a promising system.
From what I understand, once it's sorted for us, the rest of the country will get it - the Western Cape is yet again pioneering a new system!

300 Million??? Does no one else have a problem with this figure for an app? I hope it includes all the hardware, hosting, apn etc for that price. Even then......

 

[SauRoNZA]

In the Western Cape, we already have a 'MDT' in our ambulances - basically, a tablet that has software on for ambulance dispatching (mobile dispatching terminal) and using this, it can 'direct by address' or 'direct by co ordinates'

Suffice to say, in testing (it's been at my division for about a month) I have found both to be very inaccurate and there are many factors because of this.

It can be done OP, but just our system has costed over R300 million so far and we still have so many issues to resolve but it's a promising system.
From what I understand, once it's sorted for us, the rest of the country will get it - the Western Cape is yet again pioneering a new system!

How much of that though is because of human intervention and someone mishearing the address or coordinates?

If it was sent/requested from.a smart phone the data would be more accurate.

Also, why don't Uber get lost?

 

[SauRoNZA]

300 Million??? Does no one else have a problem with this figure for an app? I hope it includes all the hardware, hosting, apn etc for that price. Even then......

I suspect its probably a satellite based IDP system where they acknowledge a call for assistance through the system and it then auto routes them.

Not just a glorified GPS.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Hopefully they integrated with a google maps (which incl. waze) for routing vs traffic data? Generally I find that navigation has been decent but I guess when your data is with higher incidences the failure rate will increase so my 10% is like 1 time and in an ambulance it could be 100 times which can be fatal. Interesting nonetheless.

Always wondered about the costs but yah.. seems pretty pricy.

Im still betting the "source" would be the primary problem.

Just think of the situation in this example. Somewhat tense and stressed phone call made in a hurry to get assistance.

Then add the "telefoon telefoon" triple replay of information to that and it's bound to be wrong when it gets to the other side.

 

[midnightcaller]

300 Million??? Does no one else have a problem with this figure for an app? I hope it includes all the hardware, hosting, apn etc for that price. Even then......

I also thought 300m was high. But then we dont know full scope of what's in the contract.

 

[midnightcaller]

How much of that though is because of human intervention and someone mishearing the address or coordinates?

If it was sent/requested from.a smart phone the data would be more accurate.

Also, why don't Uber get lost?

I did some further research into this.
The person who called the ambulance gave the correct street address.
ER24 sent an sms with a reference number and the street address that was given by the person who called ER24 call center.

The street address was 100% correct.
So, the problem may have been the dispatcher , traffic, driver , ( I dunno)

 

[SauRoNZA]

I did some further research into this.
The person who called the ambulance gave the correct street address.
ER24 sent an sms with a reference number and the street address that was given by the person who called ER24 call center.

The street address was 100% correct.
So, the problem may have been the dispatcher , traffic, driver , ( I dunno)

Interesting. I wonder how they relay it from one to the other? Maybe there's still opportunity to get it wrong in the handover.

Or maybe it's a common street name so there are others.