Two runners died at the 2022 Comrades Marathon this year, bringing the total number of deaths in the 101-year history of the race to eight.
An app known as the Scinapse app could change the game in race planning and medical assistance in the coming future.
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Designed to electronically gather, synchronize and share real-time patient data at events which in turn improves patient care by dynamically connecting medical practitioners with local hospitals the Scinapse app just may be one of the answers practitioners have been waiting for.
History proved that doctors and nurses stationed at multiple points along race routes with handwritten patent records proved inefficient.
Challenges such as the lack of sufficient network impacted the extent of assistance medical personnel could provide to patients.
Medical teams could not share patient data using their mobile devices.
Patients could receive treatment at one point on the race route, continue with the race and then later require further treatment or transfer to a hospital at a later point.
There was just no way for medical teams to electronically synchronize critical data in real time for patients.
Record keeping at various points during a race and sharing the information often took time and manpower.
“We knew that things had to change in the event medical industry, and we began with the analysis, planning and testing using the clinical input provided by our corporate events team. The ICT team chose to partner with Aux Studio as they had the capabilities to do rapid prototyping and app design,” said Minette Barkhuysen, general manager at Core Enterprise systems at Mediclinic Southern Africa.
“They also understood that a race route will traverse areas without 3G reception and could enable online/offline capabilities with a firebase real-time database.
“We worked together to be able to put a portable, lightweight, cordless tablet in the hands of the doctors and nurses so that they could create one real-time, synthesized electronic record per patient along the race route using the Scinapse app, which also generates a referral letter if a patient is transferred to a hospital.”
The launch of the app has provided the Mediclinic corporate events with an added advantage.
Scinapse app provides real time insights at different stages during an event and enables assessment of environmental and safety factors that can be addressed to ensure that patient contact is well supplied.
Caroline Murray, Mediclinic’s Clinical logistics coordinator for events said:”Scinapse data identifies and accurately pinpoints trends along a race route in planning for the next event.”
“Scinapse enables us to make data-based risk assessments and decisions about the best positions for our field hospital, medical assistance stations and emergency vehicles, as well as more accurately determine our staffing, equipment and medicinal needs along a race route.”
