Electronic patient care report (ePCR) of out-of-hospital emergency medical services

Patient data concerning out-of-hospital emergency medical care is stored digitally as electronic patient care records (ePCR) in Kanta. This allows information to flow more smoothly between emergency care and other health care services.

In the future, EMS professionals will record patient data electronically using KEJO, the Common Authority Field Command System, which is used by all Finnish public protection and disaster relief authorities, including all EMS providers. From KEJO, emergency medical reports are stored in the Patient Data Repository in Kanta.

ePCRs improve communication

KEJO and the ePCR respond to the challenges in communication between emergency care and other health care providers. From Kanta, EMS records can easily be viewed by health care professionals whenever patient care so requires. 

Through KEJO, professionals in emergency medical units also have access to patient data stored in Kanta by other health care service providers. This will make critical patient data available more quickly.

In the future, the client will also be able to view their EMS records in MyKanta.

Use of the ePCRs in EMS will be introduced in stages

The deployment of ePCRs in EMS is being facilitated by a national project group led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, THL, Kela, wellbeing services counties and information system providers are also involved in preparations.

Wellbeing services counties will deploy the ePCRs according to a schedule agreed in the project group. The goal is for all wellbeing services counties to conduct deployment in 2024.

For example, the project group will ensure that the EMS units and other health care operators in the area receive appropriate training in operating models for ePCRs and KEJO data entries before ePCRs begin to be stored in Kanta.

However, Kela provides support to wellbeing services counties with the administrative aspects of deploying the ePCR. Wellbeing services counties will receive more detailed administrative deployment guidelines through the national project group.

In short, the administrative steps of deployment include:

adding a connection to the access point used by the KEJO system for the wellbeing services county. The county will request Kela to add an access point no later than two weeks before the start of production use.
The wellbeing services county will update the information of its contact persons on the Kanta Services Extranet if changes have been made to the contact information.
The technical functionality of the ePRC is verified before entering production, if necessary. Learn more about verifying technical functionality.