Smarter prehospital triage

Abstract

Acute care in The Netherlands is under significant pressure due to increasing demand, growing complexity, staff shortages, and rising costs. To address these challenges, the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), in collaboration with regional hospitals and healthcare institutions, initiated the SMART Triage project (SMART Medical Applications for Regional Triage Use). This project aims to improve pre-hospital triage by enabling real-time visual and audio communication between ambulance personnel and physicians.
This thesis explored how the SMART Triage platform could be effectively integrated into daily workflows, ensuring that the technology aligns with user needs and existing working routines. A service design approach was used, involving stakeholder engagement, workflow analysis, and iterative prototyping.

The final Service Blueprint and platform interface designs reflect the needs and expectations of neurologists, cardiologists, pediatricians, and ambulance personnel for the SMART Triage platform. They clearly describe the user’s actions during each step of the triage process, their interaction with the technology, where patient data is stored, and how it can be accessed.
In addition, a roadmap was developed to guide the platform’s growth from 2025 to 2030. Over time, the platform could integrate data from GPs and pharmacies, enabling ambulance nurses and physicians to assess patients’ conditions in the prehospital phase more accurately. The roadmap also outlines how the SMART Triage platform can be expanded to other regions and healthcare organizations in the Netherlands in the future.