Situational awareness (SA, also called situation awareness) is the ability to take in relevant information about an event in order to understand it and take effective action. Maintaining effective SA as an emergency medical dispatcher (EMD) may be more difficult than in other, similarly complex roles because of the remote nature of an emergency call for help. This study attempts to provide insight on one remote SA situation by reporting on a simulation study in which cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions were provided over...
Utah Valley Dispatch Special Service District is located in Spanish Fork, Utah, and provides centralized dispatch services for police, fire, and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies in Utah and Juab counties. All 45 dispatchers working in the center are certified in CPR, Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD), and Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD). These dispatchers are trained to give lifesaving instructions to callers during emergency medical situations. At the time of the call, the EMD was on her fourth week of training and taking 911 emergencies as well as...
Isabel talks with Dr. Karen Abrashkin, Medical Director of the House Calls Program and the Clinical Call Center for Northwell Health. They discuss how the House Calls Program works, the benefits of aging in place, and the complexities of DNRs...
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...
Isabel talks with Kate Dernocoeur, co-writer of Principles of EMD. They discuss how the textbook on EMD was written, the difference between classroom learning and street sense, and the special role of emergency dispatchers in EMS...
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 Chuck Gipson, Quality and Education Manager for MEDIC EMS. They discuss how emergency dispatchers were instrumental in getting the prehospital stroke alert off the ground, the importance of getting a stroke patient help as soon as possible, and building trust between dispatch centers, paramedics, and hospitals...
Isabel Gardett talks with EJ Hinterman, captain of the Draper City Fire Department, and Holly Downs, a training coordinator for Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center, about a metronome study they both recently participated in. They discuss the low percentage of bystanders who are comfortable with providing CPR, how to get people to perform CPR at the correct rate, and the value of emergency dispatchers and responders participating in research...
The objectives of this study were to compare hospital-confirmed acute myocardial infarction (AMI) outcomes with emergency medical dispatch (EMD) low acuity cases and to identify any common characteristics of the AMIs assigned to those low-acuity codes. This was a retrospective study utilizing EMD, emergency medical services (EMS), and hospital discharge datasets, collected at two emergency communication centers in Salt Lake County, Utah. The study sample included all hospital-confirmed medical cases that arrived to the hospital via EMS. Primary outcome measures...
The first opportunity for prompt identification of a stroke in the prehospital environment often occurs when people telephone for emergency medical services. A better understanding of how callers and dispatchers communicate during emergency calls may assist dispatcher identification of stroke. To conduct a systematic review of the literature to determine communication factors associated with the identification of stroke during emergency calls. Six databases were searched (CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, Informit, MEDLINE and PsychInfo). To meet...
