Statewide Transfer Ambulance & Rescue (STAR) provides award-winning ambulance transport for emergent, non-emergent, special event, bariatric, and critical care situations. They currently employ 120 workers, the majority of whom are field personnel, and transport 20K people per year.
In the last five years, STAR switched to digitized EMS charts to streamline operational processes. Since then, they have equipped ambulance vehicles with consumer-grade tablets. Using the tablets, EMTs can clock-in digitally, conduct rig checks, and complete and submit charts and required paperwork following a transport. The team’s ability to efficiently and accurately complete charts is a critical step in the company’s revenue process.
As STAR doubled its size and devices became stressed in the field, its fleet began posing more hardware and software issues. Repairs also became more challenging with crews spread to diverse locations.
STAR’s key challenges centered on device durability and functionality issues. Workers need to be able to operate devices whether outside, in a moving ambulance, at the hospital, or in a patient’s home. Despite purchasing third-party accessories, such as casings, to help protect the company’s consumer-grade devices, STAR still encountered frequent issues. Further, replacement devices often differed in form-factor from the originals, meaning STAR had to buy new accessories, adding to the upfront cost.
While replacements were costly, repairs were time-consuming. Device restrictions often prevented local IT from servicing a malfunctioning device. They had to turn to the device manufacturer, which added to operational costs and lost time, hindering productivity. Software updates also required STAR to take devices out of service. It then required a different password for each device. With devices spread across seven locations, the IT team couldn’t conduct all updates in person. Instead, the team had to give out admin passwords, which wasn’t preferable.
Transporting 60 – 70 people per day on average, STAR needed a reliable solution that would allow teams to complete operational tasks consistently and efficiently from any location.
When seeking out a new device fleet, STAR looked at Panasonic Connect’s rugged device family. It chose to deploy the TOUGHBOOK G2. Ready to use out-of-the-box, STAR didn’t have to search for extra accessories, such as a keyboard or rugged casing, to make the solution operational.
