Opportunities for standardization in emergency scenarios in the European Union

Sergio López Bernal; Mario Quiles Pérez; Enrique Tomás Martínez Beltrán; María Del Carmen Martín Curto; Yantsislav Yanakiev; Manuel Gil Pérez; Gregorio Martínez Pérez

doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105232

Opportunities for standardization in emergency scenarios in the European Union

Int J Med Inform. 2023 Nov:179:105232. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105232. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Authors

Sergio López Bernal¹, Mario Quiles Pérez², Enrique Tomás Martínez Beltrán³, María Del Carmen Martín Curto⁴, Yantsislav Yanakiev⁵, Manuel Gil Pérez⁶, Gregorio Martínez Pérez⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Information and Communications Engineering, University of Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain. Electronic address: slopez@um.es.
² Department of Information and Communications Engineering, University of Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain. Electronic address: mqp@um.es.
³ Department of Information and Communications Engineering, University of Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain. Electronic address: enriquetomas@um.es.
⁴ Tassica, C/ José Zorrilla, 132, 1ºE, Segovia, 40003, Spain. Electronic address: carmen.martin@tassica.com.
⁵ Bulgarian Defence Institute "Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov", 2 Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Blvd., Sofia, 1592, Bulgaria. Electronic address: y.yanakiev@di.mod.bg.
⁶ Department of Information and Communications Engineering, University of Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain. Electronic address: mgilperez@um.es.
⁷ Department of Information and Communications Engineering, University of Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain. Electronic address: gregorio@um.es.

PMID: 37797352
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105232

Abstract

Objective: Despite current standardization actions towards the unification between European Union (EU) countries, there is still much work to do. In this context, this paper aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of the limitations of the EU concerning emergency situations, specifically in cross-border, cross-hierarchical, and cross-sectorial emergencies, as well as the analysis of emergent opportunities for improvement. The final goal of this analysis is to serve as an initial step for pre-standardizing these opportunities.

Materials and methods: This work, performed in the context of the EU H2020 VALKYRIES project, first analyzed existing gaps from three dimensions: technological, procedural, collaboration, and training. Each gap was obtained from the literature, professional experience within VALKYRIES, or a consultation process on EU emergency agencies. This research subsequently obtained a list of opportunities from these limitations, aggregating those opportunities with similarities to ease their study. Then, this work prioritized the opportunities based on their feasibility and positive impact, performing an additional consultation process to EU emergencies for validation. Finally, this investigation provided a roadmap for pre-standardization for the five top-ranked opportunities per dimension.

Results: This paper presents a set of 303 gaps and 255 opportunities across technological, procedural, collaboration, and training dimensions. After clustering the opportunities, this work provides a final set of 82 meta opportunities for improving emergency actions in the EU, prioritized based on their feasibility for adoption and positive impact. Finally, this work documents the roadmaps for three top-ranked opportunities for conciseness.

Conclusion: This publication highlights the limitations and opportunities in the EU concerning emergency agencies and, more specifically, those existing in cross-border and multi-casualty incidents. This work concludes that there is still room for improvement despite the current measures toward harmonization and standardization.

Keywords: Emergency scenarios; Gaps; Opportunities; Roadmap; Standardization.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Emergencies*
European Union
Humans
Reference Standards