Organisation

The Aachen Institute for Rescue Medicine & Civil Security (ARS) is a joint institution of the city of Aachen and the University Hospital RWTH Aachen. The institute's goal is to bundle the necessary innovative advancements in prehospital emergency care and medical emergency response within the framework of strategic, practitioner-oriented and scientific cooperation. The ARS, a joint facility of the City of Aachen and the University Hospital RWTH Aachen, benefits from the high level of professional and administrative expertise of both institutions: University Hospital RWTH Aachen, as a supramaximal care hospital with over 1,400 beds, plays a central role in medical care in the Aachen region and the neighbouring countries of Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition, the University Hospital RWTH Aachen carries out extensive activities in research, teaching and patient care. Among other things, the city of Aachen ensures prehospital care in the rescue and emergency medical service with over 30,000 deployments per year through the organisation of the professional fire brigade. The ARS acts as the link between the two institutions and employs around 20 scientific and medical staff. The team is characterised by a variety of professional backgrounds. This enables them to deal with the diverse and extensive issues of prehospital emergency care and medical emergency response and to be able to place them in the most diverse contexts.

Research

The ARS plays a leading role in various third-party funded research projects. These research projects can be divided into three areas:

1. Healthcare research in the field of rescue and emergency medicine: This includes, among other things, the Telenotarzt (remote emergency doctor) system, which was successfully developed in Aachen from 2007 to 2014 through a series of research projects. The Telenotarzt (TNA) has been implemented in Aachen's standard care since 2014. The process of statewide implementation of TNA systems in North Rhine-Westphalia is led by the ARS.
2. Civil security: This area includes, for example, the successfully completed research project VirtualDisaster (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research). Using the latest technology, major incidents can be recorded by a drone and displayed in a virtual environment so that relief measures can be taken more quickly and accurately.
3. Teaching-learning research: This includes, among others, the COMPAS project (funded by the European Union under the Interreg programme). Working closely with healthcare professionals from different countries, the project is designing an educational program at the intersection of healthcare, patient safety and innovation.
   
   ARS research combines scientific and practitioner-specific competencies and addresses current problems with innovative solutions in a national and international context.