Cal Fire-Riverside County Paramedics Upgrade Heart Monitors for Digital Transmission

Cal Fire-Riverside County Fire paramedics have completed upgrading ECG monitors for digital transmission of results, a move that may improve emergency care for acute heart attack patients, the agency announced Monday.

An ECG - electrocardiogram - measures heartbeats and helps emergency responders diagnose the presence and severity of heart attacks.

The equipment and software upgrades will allow Cal Fire paramedics in Riverside County to remotely transmit ECG results from cardiac patients to waiting emergency room doctors, according to Cal Fire.

In the past, Cal Fire-Riverside County paramedics verbally relayed reports of cardiac patient conditions and ECG results to emergency room doctors.

Now, paramedics can digitally transmit ECG results to Eisenhower Medical Center and Desert Regional Medical Center's specialized cardiac care facilities, according to Cal Fire.

The results can be transmitted from the paramedic's location anywhere in the Coachella Valley by using specialized cellular phones, according to Cal Fire.

"Studies have shown that early transmission via cellular phone of pre-hospital 12-lead ECG results could decrease a cardiac patient's definitive treatment time by as much as 30 minutes," a Cal Fire statement said.

The American Heart Association and the U.S. Heart Attack Program now consider early notification of the receiving hospital as part of the standard of care for a patient displaying signs and symptoms of an acute heart attack, according to Cal Fire.

Equipment and software upgrades to defibrillators carried on Cal Fire-Riverside County ambulances that operate in Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Indio have been completed and the use of this equipment was initiated on Thursday, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire-Riverside County completed the ECG upgrade in cooperation with Eisenhower Medical Center, and the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation.