Interesting story we found at the excellent ATSP.ORG site on wireless telemedicine:

Medical Service paramedics now use hand-held computers and a wireless data network to give critical information to doctors well before the patient reaches the hospital. Officials believe the system is the first of its kind in the United States.

The new system was up and running this summer, but it wasn’t until last Friday morning that doctors knew it would reliably let patients bypass the emergency room, shaving crucial minutes off their treatment time.

Paramedics from Cabarrus EMS showed up at Delmer Sizemore’s home in Concord, North Carolina, and within minutes had connected him to a portable electrocardiograph, a machine that monitored his heartbeat through 12 electrical sensors.

“They were hooking all these leads on me,” Sizemore said. “I had no idea what was going on.”

Paramedics watched the readings on their hand-held computer to see whether he was having a heart attack. The computer sent the data to an identical machine at the hospital.

Doctors there were able to evaluate Sizemore’s heartbeat and prepare for his arrival and treatment at the cardiac catheterization lab, instead of sending him through the emergency room first.

Thanks to the new system, Sizemore was treated just 33 minutes after he reached NorthEast Medical Center — which hospital officials believe is a national speed record — and suffered no permanent heart damage.