Consistency of Emergency Medical Dispatchers' Decisions Using a Protocol-Based Triage System
John Afolayan, MBBS, Andrew Heward, BSc, Christopher Olola, PhD, Edward Glucksman, MD, James Gummett, Jeff J. Clawson, MD
Aug 03, 2013|AEDR 2013 Vol. 1 Issue 2|Original Research
Central to the effectiveness of prehospital care is the ability of emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs), to rapidly categorise '999' calls and subsequently facilitate the dispatching of appropriate emergency ambulance personnel. There are many factors which affect productivity and/or performance in a work setting. These include shift work and experience. The London Ambulance Service (LAS) uses a structured, symptom- and incident-based protocol to triage emergency '999' calls. To our knowledge, factors potentially affecting compliance with this system have not been assessed in the UK...