So far, it's been a year like no other—and that has been especially true for emergency dispatch agencies and the responders for which they dispatch. While the COVID-19 outbreak is far from over, it appears that emergency services and public safety agencies have adjusted to our new normal quite effectively—albeit still with much uncertainty about the future. In coming issues, we expect to publish more on the pandemic as new research is completed and more cases of interest become available. However, for now, we are temporarily setting...
Structure fires, although infrequent, require significant resources and personnel to effectively complete critical tasks in a short time frame to achieve positive outcomes. While it is important to dispatch the appropriate number of resources rapidly, there is a risk to over-allocate responding resources both to the public and to the responders by responding with lights and siren. A standardized emergency fire dispatch (EFD) protocol-based system is important to quickly identify working structures fires so appropriate resources are allocated in an effective manner...
Abdominal pain is the most common symptom with which patients present to the emergency department (ED), and overall visits to EDs in the U.S. are growing twice as fast as the overall population. Interventions that can safely mitigate such a high usage of ED resources would be a great asset in the delivery of effective and efficient ED care. One such intervention is a secondary triage of patients calling 911 for an ambulance who were subsequently triaged as a non-urgent low-acuity caller. Emergency medical services (EMS) using secondary...
When did you begin researching issues related to the profession? Unofficially, I began many years before becoming official. Officially speaking, I have been a researcher since 2017. In my role, research enabled me to revamp, customize, launch, and optimize process improvement initiatives and programs to maximize operational performance and enhance customer service. What started you along the research and process improvement path? I took a new role within my organization in 2017, which requires me to research many aspects of not...
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) regularly respond to lift assist calls. Previous studies have shown lift assist calls present a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. This group of callers is also likely to make repeated calls to 911 for EMS assistance. The ability to foresee which of these patients may need to call 911 again within 24 hours could help decrease the risk posed to patients in these situations. To describe calls originating as lift assist calls with repeat calls within 24 hours, explore the...
