Big data on 112 calls

A team of experts from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the Universitat de València (UV) and the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Pública have developed an innovation and research project that will allow incorporating a new tool with artificial intelligence techniques to the emergency and sanitary emergency classifications received through the 112 telephone line.

The results of the study have been presented by the Consellera de Sanitat Universal i Salut Pública, Ana Barceló; the general director of the Valencian Agency of Security and Response to the Emergencies, José María Ángel; the rectors of both Valencian universities, Francisco José Mora (UPV) y Mª Vicenta Mestre (UV); and the general director of Healthcare Assistance, Mª Amparo García Layunta.

“This pioneering project,” said Barceló, “puts Valencian health at the forefront of technology in terms of resource management in an efficient and rational manner. Telephone attention to the population’s health demand is a challenge for the allocation and management of health resources, since telephone 112 receives requests for attention from both the most serious cases and health conditions that are not serious and do not require immediate attention.”

60% of calls, of a sanitary nature

At the moment, the attention of the sanitary calls is managed by the 112 operators following the classification protocols elaborated by the Department of Universal Health and Public Health. 60% of the total calls received on telephone 112 are sanitary.

During the presentation, the rector of the UPV, Francisco José Mora, stressed that “both universities have teams of leading researchers in artificial intelligence at a national and international level, whose results are backed by extensive scientific production. We are aware that there is much to do in this area, innovative applications in big data, natural language processing, human-machine cooperation … and therefore, we are participating in the construction of a promising and sustainable future. ”

This joint project has been created from the continuous evaluation of the classification protocols between the Department of Universal Health and Public Health and the Valencian Agency for Safety and Emergency Response, the analysis of the complexity of the classification, and the correct storage of historical cases. The final result of the innovation and research project is the mathematical algorithm of artificial intelligence presented.

On behalf of the UPV, the participating researchers have been Carlos Saez, Pablo Ferri, Marta Durá, Javier Juan-Albarracín, Vicent Blanes and Juan M García-Gómez, all of them belonging to the Biomedical Data Science Laboratory (BDSLab) of the ITACA Institute.

One year for implementation

The implementation of the new classification system will take approximately one year to train the 112 operating personnel in the new work protocols, introduce the algorithm in the emergency computer system and create the new user interfaces.

Four years of work

The team of experts has been working on the creation of this tool since 2015, four years in which it has prepared more than 5 million cases of emergencies and emergencies to train the artificial intelligence system with the ultimate goal of improving the work of professionals health and increase the quality of care for emergencies of the population of the Valencian Community.

Fuente: UPV’s Information Office