Acute stroke is one of the five time-dependent conditions (first hour quintet, FHQ) that emergency medical services (EMS) must manage better and faster; early identification and treatment are critical to reduce both immediate damage and long-term disability. For Emergency Medical Communication Centers, the rapid and accurate identification of stroke patients is the challenge to be won in the coming years. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) and rescuers to rapidly and...
Alertness is important to assess during many medical emergencies; however, assessing alertness proves difficult in a non-visual emergency dispatch environment. Little is understood about how to best gather an accurate report of patient alertness during an interaction between callers and Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs). The primary objective of the study was to compare two versions of a Key Question (KQ) intended to gain an accurate report of alertness, to determine whether either demonstrates a higher degree of caller...
Opioid overdoses have reached crisis proportions. One response has been to increase the availability of naloxone HCl (commonly referred to by the generic name naloxone), which reverses the effects of opioid overdose. The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS®) includes instructions by which the Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) can prompt the caller to find and use naloxone on overdose victims. However, these instructions are only provided on dispatch Chief Complaint (CC) Protocols on which overdoses are expected to be handled...
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...
Isabel talks with Dr. Mike Barnum, an emergency medicine physician in Las Vegas. They discuss how evidence informs practice, the different types of evidence, and how to integrate sound data into your center...
Isabel talks with Dr. Mike McEvoy, EMS Coordinator for Saratoga County. They discuss common myths about bystander and responder potential for opioid exposure, the symptoms of an opioid overdose, and how to keep callers safe...
Isabel talks with Jamie Foster, a trainer for the South Western Ambulance Service in the U.K. They discuss what "transgender" means, which medical protocols are impacted by the caller's gender, and how the EMD can balance getting the right information with giving good customer service...
The Emergency Medical Dispatcher's (EMD's) selection of the most appropriate Chief Complaint Protocol is one of the most important elements in emergency dispatching. Choosing the correct Chief Complaint ensures that the correct information is gathered, the correct instructions and help provided, and the right resources sent. The selection of the MPDS Sick Person Protocol is often one of the most difficult for EMDs. The primary objective of this study is to compare the EMD's selection of the Sick Person Protocol with on-scene...
Isabel talks with Janette Turner, Director of Health Services Research at the University of Sheffield. They discuss alternative performance and quality indicators for ambulance services, whether or not quick dispatch results in better outcomes, and how exactly ambulance-related research is conducted...
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...
