Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) can result in life-threatening injuries, and ambulances are therefore often dispatched at the highest priority response of lights and-siren (L&S). However, assigning L&S ambulance response based on type of incident alone may result in over-triage, meaning that the patient's condition did not warrant L&S ambulance response. Potentially, the ambulatory status of the MVC patient at the scene (i.e., whether they can walk) could help inform the ambulance dispatch priority, given that ambulation reflects...
In emergency dispatching, pre-alerts are used to send responders to calls prior to getting a final dispatch code. Some studies have showed that pre-alerts can effectively reduce dispatch time for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, potentially improving overall patient outcome. However, there is also a potential risk in running lights-and-siren on non-fully triaged calls. Although pre-alerts have been used for several years, no research studies have demonstrated its benefit, in general. The goal of this study was to determine...
In emergency dispatching, pre-alerts are used to send responders to calls prior to getting a final dispatch code—assigned using an emergency dispatch system. Although this dispatching process has been used for several years, no research studies have demonstrated its significant benefit, in general. However, a study published in 2013, showed that pre-alerts can be effectively used to reduce dispatch time for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs), which has the potential to improve overall patient outcome. As emergency calls are received, the call is entered in the Computer Aided Dispatch...
Isabel talks with Vincent Robbins, president and CEO of MONOC. They discuss why objective measurement is so important, the problems associated with using lights and sirens in an emergency response, and the steps to help local leaders and community members have realistic expectations about response times...
