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Using QR Codes To Save Lives
itwbennett writes "Paramedics in Marin County, California, may soon be putting QR codes to lifesaving use. According to an IDG News Service report, 'Lifesquare, a Silicon Valley start-up, has partnered with two emergency response agencies in Marin County to run a year-long pilot program. Lifesquare wants residents to input personal information about their medications into its website, then place corresponding QR code stickers where emergency responders can scan them with an iPhone.' The first hurdle: Getting people to put the sensitive information online. 'The way that we look at is that people already put their information into their driver's license, that's owned by the government, people put their information into credit card company's and that's owned by private corporations,' said Ryan Chamberlain, director of public outreach at Lifesquare."
instead of printing a QR code there?
People do not put their private information online by choice. Not even through the driving license or credit card. It would be better to microfiche the data and put that on the sticker. There have to be some safeguards. Most people do not trust the internet with any more than gossip and they are not likely to change in that opinion.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
instead of printing a QR code there?
You get better info density with QR. A QR can hold up to 4K.
Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.
The big problem is that no matter how useful such services may be, there have not been enough (or strong enough) guarantees of privacy. Microsoft had this same idea, or close enough. They didn't have QR codes but otherwise the idea was the same. And it was a MAJOR failure. Nobody signed up.
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Unless there are very solid and enforceable privacy guarantees, people will keep NOT signing up.
Or put in the sticker a password to decrypt the information that would be stored encripted in a database with a password protected too.
The paramedic could have his own QR code (in his "paramedic identification card", or whatever). Then:
1 - Paramedic connects to database.
2 - Paramedic takes a picture of your card to access.
3 - Paramedic takes a picture of the patients QR code to decrypt and download the data.
4 - Patient's password is automatically changed.
5 - System re-encrypts the patient's data with the new password.
6 - System sends the patient home healthy, data safe and with his new QR card password.
Write your medical condition on bracelet. I guess you can fit more info on a website but still.
Do they not have them everywhere?
http://www.medicalert.org/shop/shopHome.htm
4k should be enough to contain most information a paramedic might need (alergies, medication), esp. if that info is app generated (shortcodes, compression). There is absolutly no need to upload al this to an external party to have it downloaded again in an emergency, in effect adding a couple points of failure.
Just put the info in to QR.
It's just a QR code, which is little more than an advanced barcode. I don't see why we feel the need to write stories every time one gets used. It's like reading about paint drying.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
What is this 'with an iPhone' junk again. How about with a smartphone/portable computer etc. Why must everything be Apple, is it just so the sheep understand stuff to or what. Just give them some crayons and let them sit in the corner if it is to complicated for them to parse the word smartphone to include their own little Jobsian idol.
I work in the healthcare field, and I can assure you that at least 95% of people don't even bother to keep an updated written list of their medications in their purse or wallet. The tiny minority of people who would even CARE to input their information and keep a QR code sticker handy are the same people who know their medications/doses, so do not even need this service. The only way this could possibly work is if each person used only one pharmacy ever, AND if the pharmacy was allowed to provide this information to anybody with the software to scan the QR code (a very dicey proposition, given that HIPAA outlaws access to "protected health information"), AND if everyone was willing to carry something with this QR code on them at all times. I can tell you right now, I wouldn't carry anything extra, so unless the QR code is added to my drivers license I won't have one with me.
Of course it has. This is just a company going for a cash grab. I'm surprised they aren't using a proprietary 2D barcode format, but that would mean hiring 3x as many developers.
This thing is such a bad idea it shouldn't even have to be enumerated.
1) EMT doesn't have the app.
2) Person is in a reception dead zone. (Soon to literally be a dead zone.)
3) Disaster scenario: What happens to mobile phone reception?
4) Paramedics have time to surfe the web while trying to save lives?
5) LifeSquare's web site is down. Whoops, guess I'll die of a reaction to penicillin then.
Sure, there are privacy issues, but that seems to be the least of the faults with the system. Just write the dam thing in English on the bracelet and all you need to do is be able to read English. Low-tech solution is the right one.
Yes, hanging a fridge from your neck can be a little uncomfortable and downright dangerous while swimming, but I agree it is more noticable than a pendant, bracelet, or sticker. The idea in TFA just inserts a middleman between the victim and the paramedic who expects payment for inconvienencing both. I predict that once this slashvesrtiment is off the front page we will hear no more of it (discounting the obligatory dupes).
BTW: The compressors found in fridges have a bad habit of exploding in a fire, often with enough force to blow a hole in the back and rip the door off it's hinges.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Then everybody with a QR-code reader can get your info. Online database access can at least in theory be restricted to authorized people. Anyway, this whole idea is misguided. Machine readable information that isn't also human readable invariably falls out of sync with reality. Machine codes should only ever be used for things that never change or are scanned so frequently that wrong information can't last. The kind of information they want to put in these codes could just be printed in clear text. This is just one company trying to get into a middle-man position where no middle-man is needed.
What if every US citizen had a 9-digit identifier, which could be used to look up their medical information online?
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
Good news: Since you are unlikely to catch fire while swimming, you actually don't need the fridge while swimming unless you want to keep your beer cold.
Don't know about in the US, but in the UK we have allergy bracelets that lists all allergies that person has for such emergency purposes. Adding a QR code to digitize this information wouldn't be too terrible.
In North America, we have the MedicAlert system... bracelet or necklace that you can wear, it has a recognizable logo and on the other side a file number is engraved. Medical professionals need to call in and give the file number in order to get the information.
I prefer it, because it's actually engraved, so less likely to disappear. Correct me if I'm wrong, but engraving a QR code into metal would be a pain in the butt, and even if you could do it accurately enough, a cell phone camera wouldn't be good enough to read it....
The patient link is static and can never change, so a QR is appropriate.
Yes, cause there's no such thing as areas without coverage, network errors, database failures, ...
And in case of large scale emergencies, the cellular network would never fail. NEVER!
I'll take plain text, thank you very much!
alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" ; # https://pipedot.org/~stderr & http://soylentnews.org/~stderr
While it may be unlikely that you will catch fire while swimming, you should always be prepared to catch fire while water-skiing. As proof, the latest ICD-10 codes are ready for just such an event:
V9107XA = "Burn due to water-skis on fire, initial encounter"
I kid you not. http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/MEDICALCODES0911/#term=Water-skis
Additionally, this problem has already been solved for a group of people more likely to truly "need" it, and who do use it. You can find it at http://roadid.com/
The kind of information they want to put in these codes could just be printed in clear text. This is just one company trying to get into a middle-man position where no middle-man is needed.
Exactly. Or link it to a drivers license or state ID, there's no reason to have an extra sticker that emergency medical personal are trying to search for. I can just see them running around searching for a sticker.
EMT #1: Check his wallet
EMT #2: Not there
EMT #1: Where's the helmet?
EMT #2: I don't see it on there either
EMT #1: Well screw it, we can't spend all night searching for a sticker!
WE already have state IDs, why not just use those? Even children can get a state ID. Put your ID number in a database and update that with medical information. Done. The irony here is on Lifesquare's website they have the EMT looking at the person's wallet and finding the sticker in the wallet. FAIL.
And how is this going to be profitable? Are you going to charge users for the stickers? Maybe a monthly subscription fee? Good luck with that. Or the hospitals should all pay monthly? A project like this is too big for a tiny startup, this needs to be done on a state wide government scale to be successful at all.
But it looks like Lifesquare is available in Marin County, CA. That's great, funding January 2011 and by June 2012 you have 1 county covered and only 3,140 counties to go.
Whenever I hear about these horrible startups I always wonder how much funding they've received. Unfortunately it doesn't say the amount, but it does say someone gave them venture funding for this really bad startup.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
I have a friend who works in construction and can't wear jewelry, so he has a 6" tatoo of his medic alert info (potentially deadly medicine allergy). I don't know about the US, but here in Canada every medic alert bracet I have ever seen has said on it what it's for, so first aiders can know what to do/not do.
Also, per comments about people not helping out of fear of being sued... In Canada every province has "Good Samaritan Laws" which protect you from being sued for helping someone in a lifethreatening situation, except Quebec where it is illegal to NOT help if you can do so without endangering yourself or someone else (and also you can't get sued). Also we're lucky here in that our courts are sane.