Technology has come a long way. Voice enabled activation specifically seems to be at the forefront of almost every aspect of business and industry. Fortunately, it is now also benefiting emergency healthcare.
A great example of this innovation is Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant for the home. This device is now able to articulate medical information about first aid from one of the best-known names in medicine, Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic.
The information is accessible by speaking to the Amazon device.
​Then, users who access the free Mayo Clinic First Aid program and ask Alexa for information about CPR are told, multiple times, to call 911. The device also advises in its robotic-female voice to begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation for one minute and then call 911 if the person is unresponsive from suffocation. If the user asks for it, the device will go on to discuss specific techniques for doing CPR on an adult, child or baby.
The program also has other information when prompted such as  “tell me about spider bites” and “how to treat a cut. However, Mayo Clinic does make the disclaimer that their First Aid program is for “information purposes only” and should not be used in an emergency medical situation or in place of professional medical advice. Rather, the Mayo program offers instructions for self care for “dozens of everyday mishaps and other situations.”

http://www.govtech.com/health/Amazons-Alexa-Offers-First-Aid-Assistance-Thanks-to-the-Mayo-Clinic.html

I was recently reading an article about a new high-tech first aid kit that is on the market. The kit is called the Comprehensive Rescue System (CRS) and it comes in a sturdy, gray, 17 pound case with emergency medical supplies. The first aid kit was established by Mobilize Rescue Systems and is not your everyday first aid kit. The CRS First Aid kit of course comes with gauze's, bandages, and ointments but this kit also carries tourniquets, chest seals, and QuikClot. The type of equipment that you'd like to have but of course hope that you never have to use. In addition, the CRS First Aid kit also has en embedded iPad in the case which provides the use with an interactive app that further provides more than 1,600 pages of triage and emergency response decision trees. Awesome, right?
Further, information is not presented in hard to understand medical terminology but easy to understand simple, on screen prompts. Sometimes in emergency training, even if the first responder has updated training and skills, its easy to forget what the next step might in an emergency. This type of device allows the user to refer to the online prompts to decide what may be the most effective alternative means of emergency care. Wouldn't it be nice if every workplace and home had this type of first-aid kit? Maybe in the near future.
To find out more information on this high-tech first aid kit check out the article at the following:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-cadillac-of-first-aid-kits-could-turn-civilians-into-life-savers/