GPS on the ambulance

[PCP]

I was curious to know if the company you work for has put GPS units inside of the ambulance and if so how often do you use them? The BCAS has supplied every car in BC with a GPS unit. I use to work in a small town so we never had to use it to find a address, but I feel it will come in handy when I start at my new station as I don't know the roads and if I am driving sure would be nice to find the fastest way to the Big Green "H"

Do you think they are a waist of money and we should stick with using maps or do you think they are worth the money and the money should put towards training and new equipment?

[uglyEMT]

We have them in our two rigs. I used them once when we were going to an unfamiliar hospital on a noncritical transport. They got us there.

I hardly use them, by the time you punch in an adress you can find it on a map or street card faster. I like my roladex for streets in my rig. I just flip to the name and get the quick directions.

Here is an example

Magnolia Drive

3rd left off Main after PD station

if we have a one way

Bird Street ONE WAY (one way is in red)

Take Station Rd second left off Ridge Ave

Make right onto Layfeete St first street in from Ridge

Bird is 4th right

To me its alot faster to read the card then type the street and also waiting to hear "Turn right" while I am passing the street because the GPS is off a little.

Another thing I found is to learn your area. Spend time with maps and also just driving in your POV. I know your not going to remember every street but get the big ones down, learn where the nursing home is, learn where the school is. Stuff like that. Once your familiar with the maps and major areas the side roads will come with time and call runs.

[HEMSdaddy23]

One thing about GPS receivers are the area you work in. If you are in a city with alot of new streets, residential areas, etc the software in the GPS may not be up-to-date. Example I work in a city and countless times a crew will take the time to put the address into the GPS and depend solely on the turn by turn directions end up being sent through a church parking lot where the gate is locked. Turn back around and you've wasted a minute plus back tracking. Rural areas GPS seems to work better. Personally I am a fan of the good ol map book and not wasting my money on a GPS, map book is cheaper too.<BR><BR>

Edited November 23, 2010 by HEMSdaddy23

[fakingpatience]

I've actually found the opposite problem in new development areas; the road won't be on the map book, but my newer GPS will know where it is.

Our newer ambulances have GPS built into them. I alway bring my personal GPS with me, because I usually work on the older trucks. I am new to the area I work in, and while I am starting to know my way around better, I still don't know where many of the roads are. The problem with our map book system is we don't always know which section of a road the call is on, and that could make a big difference when driving to the call. Most times our dispatch gives us cross streets, but it is often hard to understand them over the radio, and they get ticked if you ask them to repeat it.

All that said, I know my GPS is flawed, often takes slightly longer, or more obscure ways to a call location, but there are times when it uses a short cut even the people who have lived here forever don't know. I think you need to use your own judgement when to follow the directions of the GPS, and when to use the map book.

[emtannie]

We have GPS in all our units, and I love it. I work for a regional (well, now it is provincial) service, and I work in 2 different towns, and 2 different cities. I know my way around each of these areas fairly well, but there are some neighborhoods where GPS gets me to and from the scene easily.

Our GPS systems are updated regularly as part of a contract with the company who provides it, so they are relatively up to date, even with new neighborhoods. I regularly work with medics who don’t go on rural calls very often, and have no idea how to read a rural county map (for example, they have no idea what the rural legal land description of NE10-21-16-W4 is). I can find it on a paper map or GPS, but being “city folk” they are better at just using the GPS for those calls.

One of the areas I really like GPS for is those neighborhoods where all the roads start with the same thing. In one of the cities I work in, there is one area where all of the roads start with “Ross Glen….” That area is a HUGE pain to navigate, and my GPS has saved my a** more than once in finding a residence there.

The OP asked if GPS is a waste of money – for me, absolutely not.

[WolfmanHarris]

All of our Ambulances have a toughbook mounted in the back with a terminal in the cab. These computers have Ontario's Ministry of Health Locator program. It's not ideal. It will display your current location and very accurately pull up any address in our catchment, but beyond that, the closest we get to guidance to the call is it starts zooming in as we get closer. I've gotten the hang of it, and within my district I never have any problems, but when I head south it can get pretty clunky.

We're technically allowed to put our personal GPS in the truck, but it's discouraged. I only use it if I've taken OT outside my area as a back-up. I had a bad experience with a partner who was really uncooperative with giving directions so I bring it just in case.

Ottawa uses Microsoft streets and routes to supplement MOH Locator on their computers and apparently it's a pretty good program. Peel Region Paramedic Service has one of the large Garmin's mounted in their cabs along with the laptop.

[tcripp]

Each of our main line units is equipped with a GPS which is to be used as a secondary tool. We also have a key map for our county which is our primary navigation source.

Typically, before we roll, the navigator will pull out the key map while the driver will plug the address in to the GCS to help confirm that we are following the map book appropriately or, on the rare occasion, for when the map book isn't spot on. (While it can be comical, it can have repurcussions if the navigator thinks you are going north when in fact you are going south.)

I don't think it's a waste of money.

[FredG]

We installed GPS in our units. Most of our members know our response area pretty well, but we find them useful for the Mutual Aid responses in the neighboring districts.

One pitfall that they we have run into is that, being in a rural area, we have quite a few seasonal roads. The GPS units don't always show what is seasonal and what isn't. It may be the GPS map that is in our units, but even the online maps (google, mapquest, etc) do not agree on which roads are seasonal and which aren't.

[Medic One]

We have GPS in all vehicles but we do have a policy that Town maps will be provided by the Town for our service area and mutual aid areas and we must verify the address on paper.

We also the units pulled every three months to have updates installed by the Town IT department.

Updates must be reguarly done to ensure the most accurate mapping but don't rely on the unit.

We have never really had a problem with inaccuracies.

[brentoli]

We installed GPS in our units. Most of our members know our response area pretty well, but we find them useful for the Mutual Aid responses in the neighboring districts.

This.

Our neighboring county makes no sense with their house numbers.

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