Acute stroke is one of the five time-dependent conditions (first hour quintet, FHQ) that emergency medical services (EMS) must manage better and faster; early identification and treatment are critical to reduce both immediate damage and long-term disability. For Emergency Medical Communication Centers, the rapid and accurate identification of stroke patients is the challenge to be won in the coming years. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) and rescuers to rapidly and...
A fast response to an emergency call is one of the main objectives of an emergency medical communication center (EMCC). In 2011, a scripted logic-based dispatch protocol system, the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®), was implemented in the five Liguria Region EMCCs in Italy, to manage emergency medical calls. However, response delay time (RD) (i.e., time from when the call rings to when emergency medical dispatcher [EMD] picks it up) and duration of emergency call (DEC) (i.e., time from call pick up to when the call is closed)...
The main objective of this study was to compare emergency medical dispatch (EMD) stroke identification with hospital-confirmed stroke. The secondary objective was to compare the results of stroke diagnostic tool (SDxT) of Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®) with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) used in hospital by neurologists. Data utilized for the observational study were taken from a preliminary stroke dataset collected at San Martino Hospital (Genova) between January 2016 and June 2017. All cases of suspected stroke arrived at First Aid began part of the study...
On July 29, 1991 the 91/396/CEE European Community introduced the short number 1-1-2, as the only one European emergency number (EEN). In Italy, the implementation of European Decision began with the legislative decree of August 1st, 2003, and subsequent amendments and additions. In Liguria, Italy, the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Liguria Region President and Interior Ministry in September 2016, initiated the EEN planning. Purpose of this work is to explain how EEN has been developed in Liguria, which hosts a population of about 1,600,000 with a significant tourist flow that...
On February 14, 2017, the Region of Liguria (one of the 20 regions of Italy) activated a first level public safety answering point that uses the universal European Emergency Number (EEN), 1-1-2. This implementation had 3 primary purposes: immediate call pickup/answering for all emergency calls; a fast call transfer to a secondary PSAP - either medical, police or fire; and filtering of inappropriate calls. This study reports on several performance indicators for the first year of system use. The objective of this study was to report on several key performance indicators of the new system...
The evaluation of emergency calls received by Emergency Medical Communication Centers (EMCCs) is the first and basic step for activating the chain of survival. It also represents an essential prerequisite for optimal response to and management of critical patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the introduction of a single, structured, and standardized emergency medical dispatch system provided a more uniform evaluation of all emergency calls among five EMCCs in Liguria, Italy. The study retrospectively examined the assigned...
There are many recent articles published in scientific literature on the topic of work-related stress. However, these studies focus on the effects of stress on the workers and not on the impact that stress could have on their work performance—more specifically on the calltaker’s (emergency dispatcher (ED)) performance and consequently on the whole Emergency Medical Service (EMS). : The objective of this study was to assess whether the number of consecutive hours worked...
