Council of Ambulance AuthoritiesMonday 15 October 2012, 3:41PM
Media release from Council of Ambulance
Authorities
The 2012 Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA) national conference
have concluded with an awards ceremony recognising the innovative
and world-leading programs and initiatives on display throughout
the Australasian ambulance sector.
CAA Chief Executive Officer Greg Mundy said the awards were
developed to encourage and acknowledge innovations from Ambulance
Services throughout Australia, New Zealand and Papua New
Guinea.
"The level of innovation and creative thought that has gone into
these projects and initiatives is truly astonishing," Mr Mundy
said.
"Some of these projects have the potential to change the landscape
for ambulance, not just in Australia and New Zealand, but
worldwide."
The four category winners for 2012 are:
Clinical Capability- St John Ambulance WA, Randomised Placebo
Controlled Trial of Adrenaline in Cardiac Arrest (The PACA Trial),
Professor Ian Jacobs.
Management Practice- St John NZ, Building our Operations program,
Michael Brooke.
Educational Performance- South Australian Ambulance Service, eBooks
for Rural Volunteer Ambulance Recruits, Kerry Sutton.
Technical Capability- St John NZ/Lightfoot Solutions/Canterbury
DHB, Canterbury Pilot- Joined Up Data, Dave Thomas.
The Star Award, the overall prize given to the most innovative and
ground-breaking initiative, was taken home by St John New Zealand,
in association with Lightfoot Solutions and Canterbury DHB.
Utilising Lightfoot's groundbreaking sfn (signalsfromnoise)
technology in their pilot project, St John NZ were able to follow
and measure the patient journey from emergency call through to
admission, treatment and discharge.
This technology could potentially enable ambulance services to more
efficiently identify patients with life threatening conditions and
monitor and measure ambulance services' contribution to hospital
admissions and patient outcomes.
Mr Mundy said the project was another example of the innovative
thinking on display in the ambulance sector.
"This initiative truly is unlike anything we've seen before," Mr
Mundy said.
"It has the potential to save countless lives all over the world
and I look forward to seeing it progress over the coming
years."