Emergency dispatch is a relatively new field, but the growth of dispatching as a profession, along with raised expectations for help before responders arrive, has led to increased production of and interest in emergency dispatch research. As yet, no systematic review of dispatch research has been conducted. This study reviewed the existing literature and indicated gaps in the research as well as potentially fruitful extensions of current lines of study. Dispatch-related terms were used to search for papers in research databases (including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, EMCARE, SciSearch, PsychInfo...
911 centers receive a wide variety of calls for police-related incidents. Using the Police Priority Dispatch System (PPDS®), a 911 Emergency Police Dispatcher (EPD) categorizes each incident with a specific Chief Complaint (CC) and prioritizes the case using a systematic alpha-numeric coding matrix. The wide variation in CC types and specific codes assigned can profoundly affect staffing and resource deployment decisions made by law enforcement agencies. However, the frequency of specific call types and priority levels in the PPDS has not been studied formally to date. The objective of...
Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) play an important role in modern-day Emergency Medical Services (EMS), especially as compared to the minimal logistics role simple dispatchers filled years ago. Today, EMDs serve as gatekeepers, resource allocators, non-visual clinicians, and scene resource coordinators, and are familiar with nearly every operational and clinical aspect of an emergency call. Because of their wide range of training, experience, and involvement, EMDs can be a tremendous resource for today's less involved managers and administrators, provided they are acknowledged and...
