China is gradually becoming an aging society, and the necessity for prehospital first-aid care is increasing. However, there is a long-term information blind spot in traditional prehospital first-aid care. Fifth-generation (5G) network has the advantages of enhanced broadband, multiple connections, and low latency. Combined with the current prehospital first-aid system, the 5G smart medical prehospital first-aid care model creates a new opportunity for the development of prehospital first-aid care. This paper aimed to describe the 5G smart first-aid care platform and offers practical insights into the construction and application of the 5G smart first-aid care platform in small- and medium-sized cities. We first introduced the working principle of the 5G smart first-aid care platform and then chose patients with prehospital chest pain as an example to describe the whole workflow in detail. The application of the 5G smart emergency-care platform is at the stage of pilot exploration in large- and medium-sized cities. Big data statistical analysis of the completed first-aid care tasks has not been performed yet. The 5G smart first-aid care platform realizes real-time interconnection of information between the ambulance and the hospital, performs remote consultation, shortens the treatment time, and enhances treatment efficiency. Future research should focus on quality control analysis of the 5G smart first-aid care platform.
Keywords: 5G; fifth generation; prehospital first-aid care; smart medical care; telemedicine.
©Tao Xiang, Pei Yong Zhang, Guang Ying Zhuo, Hang Dai. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 22.05.2023.