Emergency workers who are equipped with Palm handhelds and smartphones will soon have access to a new wireless information system provided through the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

The system will enable emergency responders to gather information on hazardous substances so they can make informed decisions when encountering such substances out in the field. The system serves as an alternative to the current paper-based systems or outdated technology that emergency responders often contend with when “on scene.”

The Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER) application will allow EMT’s, firefighters, police and other emergency personnel to have immediate access to the NLM’s Hazardous Substance DataBank (HSDB), which compiles data on about 5,000 chemicals (many of which are extremely hazardous).

The NLM is the largest medical library in the world and an organization within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It provides information and research services in all areas of biomedicine and health care.

According to Palm, the application’s user interface is designed to present the data in a format that is easy to access and comprehend during an emergency, as well as during disaster-preparedness training.

To date, NLM has recorded more than 11,000 application downloads for the Palm OS application. The free application can be stored either on the Palm device or a storage card (purchased separately) and is updated at the user’s discretion.

“Our objective with WISER has been to utilize the HSDB’s existing resource of authoritative data and package it specifically for the emergency-responder community,” said Marti Szczur, deputy associate director for Specialized Information Services Division at the National Library of Medicine, in a press release. “The marriage of mobile devices and the WISER application provides critical information in a useful format and enables the user to have access to this data on the site of a hazmat incident. Feedback from users is indicating that our investment in building WISER is contributing to American public health and safety.”

“Mobility tools like Treo smartphones with the WISER application serve to shorten critical response time in crisis situations and provide accurate authoritative information,” said Lieutenant Chip Haake of the Tuscola Fire Department, Tuscola, Ill. “We have encouraged and implemented use of the Palm solution in order to make sure we’re using the latest life-saving technologies for the communities we serve, as well as our own team members.”

To download the free application, visit http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov.

For more information about Palm, visit http://www.palm.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.