MedicomPresentation by Toby Clairmont, KH7FR 23 November 1998
Medicom stands for Medical Communications. It is not a disaster communications system, but can put healthcare providers in touch with each other in the event of a disaster.
In the 1970s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) started up. Prior to this, as an aside, funeral homes provided most care. As EMS developed, paramedics and EMS technicians began to be developed. A radio system was needed for voice communication and telemetry.
Telemetry has mostly falled n in disuse, but seems to be making a come back; voice, of course, is the preferred medium. The reason for the discontinuance of telemetry is the increase in training for EMS personnel.
Medicom is used: [1] Hospital to hospital (0.5%); [2] Hospital to Ambulance (99%); [3] Hospital to support (e.g., Blood Bank) (0.5%). Cell phones are in use also. The paramedic is the eyes and ears of the physician via Medicom. There are presently 16 City and County ambulances and 1 to 3 for AMR.
Medicom is owned and managed by the State EMS and is part of the Department of Health. The radios operate on the UHF and VHF bands. The system is an old one and is open communications which means that patient names cannot be broadcast over the system.
What is the future for Medicom? There is talk of going to 800MHz and or put up additional radios anequipment in ambulances. We wait and see.