While Structure Fire is not the most common Chief Complaint handled by Emergency Fire Dispatchers (EFDs), the high death toll and other serious consequences that result make structure fires one of the most important types of calls EFDs handle. The time needed to appropriately and effectively prioritize these calls can be evaluated using a time standard called Call Prioritization Time (CPT). In this study, we evaluate CPT for centers using the Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS). The primary objective in this study was to determine CPT for the FPDS...
Based on known unpublished sources (e.g. emergency communication center managers, training officers, dispatchers), emergency communication centers (ECCs) around the world provide training for new emergency dispatchers and continuing dispatcher education. However, little information has been collected, or shared, between ECCs regarding specific training methods that are being used, which methods are successful, and what factors influence their success. The objective of this study was to describe what training methods are currently being used in emergency...
Measurement is a critical part of testing and implementing changes as well as identifying areas for further research, in prehospital care and dispatch. Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, implemented the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®) to improve the efficiency, timely availability, consistency, and reliability of dispatch data and information. This in turn facilitated a research study into the care of cardiac arrest patients. Measurement is a critical part of testing and implementing changes, as well as identifying areas for further research...
Expanding the role of evidence-based practice (EBP) in emergency medical services is a matter of increasing importance to researchers and practitioners alike. However, this movement toward EBP has not yet been applied to one critical area of prehospital care: emergency dispatching. The primary reason for this gap is that emergency dispatchers (EDs) struggle to develop a research culture able to produce enough well-conducted studies to move toward true EBP. One starting point with documented potential for building the research capacity in a field is to develop...
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies have a pressing need to understand call prioritization time (CPT), a key sub-component of call processing time in Emergency Medical Dispatch, as it impacts response time to specific cases and overall EMS agency response time performance. The objective of this study was to determine median CPT by dispatch priority level and Chief Complaint type. This retrospective study included data from six emergency communication agencies, each accredited by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED)...
The value of dispatch in modern Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems cannot be understated. Among many other roles, an Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) is responsible for accurate response selection. Response is based on EMD-assigned dispatch codes upon completion of caller-interrogation questions in a dispatch protocol system. When two or more signs, symptoms, or situational conditions are encountered in a calltaker evaluation, but are assigned and reported as a single, dispatch-defined code descriptor during the call-taking process by an EMD, a data hiding...
Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs), at emergency communication centers that have implemented the Medical Priority Dispatch System® (MPDS) protocols, use scripted questions to interrogate people calling 9-1-1. Based on this interrogation, case determinant codes are assigned– to identify the specific patient condition and enable optimal allocation and deployment of resources to ensure appropriate field responses. MPDS determinant codes for both OBVIOUS and EXPECTED DEATH exist for patients that are clearly and irreversibly dead, or have a terminal illness accompanied...
Telephone nurse triage at the 9-1-1 dispatch point is relatively new in the United States despite its ability to significantly reduce expensive and scarce Emergency Medical Services (EMS) resource use and emergency department visits. A previous study investigated the distribution of 9-1-1-triaged call incident types within the Emergency Communications Nurse System (ECNS) and found that 9-1-1 triage systems yielded a variety of low acuity complaints that were handled by the Emergency Communications Nurse (ECN). This study explored the current and potential utilization...
Research has shown that two-thirds of emergency visits occur after business hours (weekdays 9am – 5pm). Therefore, identifying primary healthcare providers available after business hours is one strategy for improving appropriate access to healthcare services. Previous studies have also shown a high and steady volume of secondary triage-eligible calls throughout the day and into the evening. However, because the Emergency Communication Nurse (ECN) performing the secondary triage has some discretion on selecting the Recommended Care Level (RCL) based on resource...
The job of an emergency dispatcher is inherently stressful. As a 9-1-1 dispatcher, it is expected to receive a call for a multi-system trauma victim, a child drowning, an assault, amongst thousands of others, will be answered. These stressors are encountered multiple times per shift. While answering the call is controllable, the stressor on the other end is not. To examine the relationships of emergency dispatchers' home and work life, and present perceived control (how one focuses energy on what can be controlled in an uncontrollable situation) on secondary traumatic stress (STS), the effects...
