History of Emergo Train System® [ETS]
Emergo Train System was developed by Prof. Sten Lennquist in the early 1980s.
The first version of ETS was based on simple magnetic ‘buttons’ with different colours symbolising what staff it was. Orange for a paramedic, black with white dot was a fireman and black with yellow spot a fire officer. The ambulances, police cars and fire brigades were symbolized by using laminated photos of such vehicles. The patients were magnetic ‘buttons’ with a number on the front side. The user of the system then had to look at a paper to see the description of the patients. Using triangle-shaped magnetic symbols added next to the patients, they could be prioritised.
Today ETS look very different from its early days but the basic idea is still the same, magnetic symbols, which are simple to use when running both small and large simulation exercises.
Initially, ETS was used on courses at the Centre for Teaching and Research in Disaster Medicine and Traumatology. It was an easy and cost-effective way to use a whiteboard with magnets when demonstrating, for example, the incident site of a largescale accident or a mass casualty incident [MCI]. Since ETS showed to be a very good pedagogic tool it was spread both in Sweden and internationally and is today
used in several countries.
Over the last decade, Emergo Train System has been proven as a useful tool for training organisations on the international arena [in particular with a medical focus] in dealing with major incidents. The total Emergo Train System concept is best described as a system for simulating the organisation of above all the medical emergency services chain in the repression phase at an operational-tactical level in the event of major incidents. In its current form, therefore, it is a simulation system dealing with the organisation and coordination of multidisciplinary emergency medical care.
The vision of Emergo Train System is that training and practising the organisation of emergency medical care for major incidents is only worthwhile if based on realistic data. The reality content of Emergo Train System is reflected by the real time and interactive character of the simulation, working with realistic resources (available personnel, equipment and facilities) and the scientifically accurate pool of patients, based on realistic physiological parameters. As a consequence, participants in the simulation session are actually required to cooperate, communicate and take decisions based on the resources available to them. In addition, the decisions taken will have
consequences for the situation of other participants.