Traffic incidents (collisions and crashes) are among the
most common call types handled by Emergency
Communication Centers (ECCs). They are also among the
most complex call types because they represent such
a range of possible situations. These can range from
“fender benders” with no injuries and little or no property
damage—in which case a single law enforcement officer
might be an appropriate response—to mass-casualty
events involving trains, buses, or other large, multipassenger vehicles.
Caller-party type may determine the accuracy of the information collected by the EMD. Has this distribution changed in the past decade? Are EMD’s gathering more accurate information? And why is the caller party dynamic changing? The objective is to retrospectively look at the distribution of the caller-party type in a mostly urban/suburban, high performance EMS system. ProQA data from 2004 to 2017 was extracted and evaluated to identify any trends. This was a retrospective, descriptive, and uncontrolled study of de-identified medical dispatch data, collected using ProQA data from an...
EMS agencies often have a critical shortage of available advanced life support (ALS) assets. Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) protocols are designed to sort calls with a reasonable safety margin yet not over triage calls as requiring ALS assets. In some two-tier deployments, a downgrade to BLS is available to allow ALS to return to an available status. The Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service (MCFRS) is an all-hazard combination system that provides a tiered emergency medical service response and transport in urban/suburban/rural settings. MCFRS responds to 94,000 medical incidents and...
The International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) exists with a mission to advance and support emergency dispatch professionals and match callers in need of emergency, health, and social services safely, quickly, and effectively with the most appropriate response. Therefore, IAED sets the highest possible standards for emergency dispatching worldwide through conducting research, creating protocols, designing training, offering professional development opportunities and certification for emergency dispatchers, and publications on the trade and science of emergency dispatch...
Emergency communication centers often field calls from police, local law enforcement, sheriff, state police, highway patrol, security, military police, or federal agents. When these officers radio their communication centers for medical assistance, historically, they have said "Send medical" or "Need paramedics." Centers have typically sent lights-and-siren responses, sometimes wasting resources and potentially causing more accidents. It can be frustrating for all parties involved, because officers are not trained to provide necessary patient information, emergency dispatchers must triage...
The most critical and difficult part of the Emergency Police Dispatcher's (EPD) job may be the gathering of the initial problem description, which uses a scripted Protocol Case Entry Question (CEQ) but also requires interpretation on the part of the EPD. Specifically, at the beginning of the call, the EPD asks the caller the CEQ "Ok, tell me exactly what happened" (TMEWH). Based on the caller's response, the EPD selects a Chief Complaint (CC) Protocol—a specific protocol that provides the prompts to drill down into the caller's situation—the primary reason for calling 911. Selecting the wrong...
The International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) is a nonprofit standard-setting organization promoting safe and effective emergency dispatch services worldwide. IAED supports first responder-related research, unified protocol application, and strengthening the emergency dispatch community through education, certification, and accreditation. As an organization that serves both emergency dispatchers and the public calling them for help, IAED's mission reflects a commitment to build strong relationships with both groups. To this end, IAED began cultivating a relationship with...
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems often utilize a structured approach to 911 call-taking and emergency medical dispatch (EMD). One such system, Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS®), categorizes 9-1-1 calls into EMD codes based on problem and severity. Response priorities and resources dispatched are determined at the local level through a predetermined response matrix, which is often determined without utilizing outcome-based criteria. The primary objective was to use historical clinical data to develop a methodology to increase the number of patients with time-sensitive critical...
Chief Complaint selection is one of the most important skills for an emergency dispatcher to develop—and one of the most critical moments in any emergency call for help. Selecting the correct Chief Complaint at the opening of the call helps ensure that the correct information will be gathered, the most appropriate response sent, and the most life-critical instructions provided. For many emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs), the selection of Protocol 26 – Sick Person (Specific Diagnosis) is among the most challenging. This is due to the complexity of the protocol, since this requires...
Opioid overdoses have reached critical proportions in the United States of America (USA or US) and worldwide. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than 90 Americans die every day from opioid overdose, and the epidemic was recently declared a national public health emergency. One response to the crisis has been to increase the availability of naloxone HCl (commonly referred to by the brand name NARCAN), a treatment that reverses the effects of opioid overdose when injected or inhaled. The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS®) version 13.0 includes instructions...
