Background: As many medical, medicolegal, and research interests have become more time-dependent, increased weight should be placed on the precision of time documentation and timing devices. Studies have previously documented poor synchronization of timing devices in the medical setting. Objective. To determine whether any advancement has been made in prehospital time accuracy and to determine the timing devices used by today's emergency medical services (EMS) providers.
Methods: Times recorded from the timing devices available for use during calls by local EMS providers, including watches, cellular phones, cardiac monitors/ defibrillators, ambulance clocks, and public safety answering points, were compared with atomic time to determine accuracy. Additionally, the preferred provider timing device, and accuracy of said device, was obtained.
Results: A total of 138 available timing devices were observed, with an accuracy of only 36.9%; cell phones had the best accuracy (67.7%). For the 53 providers surveyed, watches (64.2%) were found to be the most used timing device, followed by cell phones (24.5%) and ambulance clocks (11.3%). Only 18 (34.0%) of these preferred devices were accurate when compared with atomic time.
Conclusions: There is no precision or consistency in the timing devices used by EMS personnel. However, methods are available, such as those that support the cellular phone industry, that would help with consistent and precise timekeeping. Utilization of modern technologies could increase precision in patient documentation and decrease medical, medicolegal, and research issues relating to time documentation.