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WIISARD [22] also includes an intelligent 802.11 triage tag device. It provides water
and handling resistance, wireless networking support, remote operation and a battery of
8 to 12 hours of operation. Victims are triaged by staff with PDAs. After this step, per-
sonnel puts this devices on the victim and synchronizes it with the patient data entered
in the PDA. The triage tag recognizes and displays the data through its color LEDs for
the status of the patient's severity. The wireless network can connect to transmit the po-
sition it is. These nodes include GPS to know their position and they use ad hoc network
and mesh protocols for the deployment of the network .
5.3
Emergency Zones Definition
The first step towards the definition of a new electronic triage tag mechanism is the
modeling of the zones that comprise the place of an emergency and the services they
offer.
5.3.1 Zones
The emergency scenario has been split in different zones (Figure 6). The zones range
from Zone 0, where the emergency arises, to Zone 3, where the routine medical visits
are done.
To better understand the differentiation between these zones, we will put an example.
Suppose a tragedy like that of a large earthquake in a major city.
Zone 0
The natural disaster produce some hot spots of different extensions. These hot-spots
are what we call Zone 0. There, network infrastructure existence is not guaranteed.
Therefore it must be assumed that in practice no available networks exist.
Zone 1
The management of all zones, takes place in Zone 1. Within Zone 1 there are field
hospitals, the control center (the place from where the emergency is coordinated and
where its information collected), and ambulance and rescue equipment in general. Field
hospitals, which are also included in this zone may be associated to one or more
Zone 0.
Zone 2
The network of hospitals and medical centers close to the emergency compose Zone
2. This zone is the destination of the victims. It is characterized by having stable com-
munication networks which connect the rest of the hospitals.
Zone 3
This zone comprise the regular medical centers that the victims have visited during
their lives. In short, they compose all those actions that have recently featured in the
medical record.
The integration of Zone 3 in the proposed scheme may not seem obvious, since it has
no apparent direct relationship with the emergency. However, the need to have a mini-
mum medical history for use in emergency situations is the main argument for including
the zone in the diagram, as the creation and management of history is intimately linked
with the entities that make up the zone. These clinical records contain the minimum ba-
sic information from a patient (blood group, chronic or contagious diseases, allergies,
and so forth), which may be essential in an emergency situation, e.g., this allows more
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