Trauma and 5G are seemingly an unlikely pair at first glance but when you take a closer look, the connection becomes less nebulous. In fact, 5G may be the final piece of a puzzle that saves lives and prevents other life altering injuries.

This puzzle begins with new mobile medical technologies which are evolving and being placed onto ambulances. However, these are not the ambulances that we’re familiar with today. Thanks to the underlying power of 5G, these vehicles are being transformed into connected ambulances and the point of care devices onboard are accelerating and transforming the treatment of traumatic injuries.

According to National Library of Medicine, trauma is currently the leading cause of death for individuals 46 years and younger in the United States. For Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), successful treatment of the victim relies on several factors which include:

Information Availability: EMTs must be able to assess each victim’s unique condition and check for preexisting conditions while in the ambulance. EMTs must then be able to share these details with the nearest medical facility in order to quickly make the correct diagnosis and begin treatment while en-route. The further they are off the grid, the more challenging this information sharing becomes.
Workforce Management: EMTs must be able to share full details about the patient’s condition during transport to ensure that the correct staff is on-sire and ready to treat the individual upon arrival. The inability to share these details can lead to a misalignment in the specialties of the staff which can ultimately impact care.

This is why 5G and its high bandwidth, low latency, and ultra-reliable connectivity is so vital. Under the best of circumstances, connectivity can be an issue that results in frequent communications breakdowns as well as challenges in exchanging critical patient information between the hospital and the vehicle.