Pre-arrival pt. contact

[PatrickW]

Now I could see it being higher than I have experienced with a broad statement like you give. My dispatch calls in like the caller does. If caller says fell and broke toe that is what we get told. In your system bad gas could still count as chest pain. Stubbed toe traumatic injury. So with that broad based dispatch I could see it matching. Does dispatch still say what caller said was the problem in other words - EMS XZ you are being dispatched to traumatic injury caller states they have a broken leg?

It depends on the dispatcher, really, but it's always qualified with a "possible". "Per the caller, possible open ankle fracture", "per the caller, possible dislocated shoulder", "per the caller, possible MI". I imagine the latter is only transmitted to us if the dispatcher thinks the caller really knows what they're talking about. For example, if they've had previous MIs or if there's a transferring physician.

[spenac]

Thanks Mad and Pat. That makes it clearer. As somebody on truck I would still like to get what the caller stated was chief complaint rather than just the broad traumatic injury not life threatening the combined info gives a better picture to began preparations for call.

[madwis911@yahoo.com]

The EMD system actually empowers the EMD to ask more, better questions by giving a base line of questions to ask on every call, the EMD can ALWAYS ask a clarifying question to help get the BEST information to the responders...

Remember, the whole point of an EMD system is to allow dispatchers to send the MOST APPROPRIATE response to calls... as I mentioned previously, since we implemented EMD our services respond COLD to ALPHA and some BRAVO calls AND we send the NEAREST (base

d on AVL/GPS locations of all ambulances in the county) ALS unit to the most serious calls... regardless of jurisdiction. This has been huge, and saves lives!

Our system works pretty well and has been a model for other systems in out state.

I guess I'd like to know if your dispatch agency uses any of the commercially available systems, there are several!

[spenac]

Hey MAD thanks for sticking and [s:413f581164]arguing[/s:413f581164] discussing, too many new people will not back their statements. In my area we do not have EMD's the sheriff or PD dispatcher takes calls and tones it out as whatever caller says it is. There are a couple that have learned on their own to ask more questions so we get better info.

[madwis911@yahoo.com]

Hey man... this is what having an open forum is all about!

Glad to be part of the team!

Since I am no longer in the field I almost didn't respond... but then that just wouldn't have been in character!!

[EMDP2081]

Alright, I am going to Chime in on things here.

I have worked in a couple different settings.

My first full time paramedic job was in a PSA with about 250,000 residents and about 3,000 square miles that covered portions of 7 counties. Each county would receive the calls at their own respective PSAP and interrogate the caller on their own. Some agencies used the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) and some used a dispatcher asking aimless questions. Those counties would then land line our ECC and relay an address, Age, Sex and MPDS code and our ECC would then tone the call out to us and we would respond and no one complained about it. it is a working system by all reasonable accounts.

The other model i have worked under is a system where the local PSAP forwards the call through the 911 system after they have triaged it and we run through the MPDS system via ProQA (computerized MPDS) and we assign the calls that way. we reduce alot of calls to a non-emergent response which is by all account safer for the crews and the public... The real kicker is that we get more dispatch complaints under this format because the crews are so used to getting all of the information that the occasional time that they don't have that information, they jump all over our ECC because of their fault...

Personally, as both a Paramedic and a Dispatcher, i like both setups. I like being downgraded (as much fun as light and sirens are, they dangerous), but i like the simplicity of coming into a "clean" situation without other things to cloud my judgment.

But if there is one thing, and maybe it is just the new paramedic in me, but i really don't have any yearning to listen in on that conversation...

[unknown]

Hey man... this is what having an open forum is all about!

Glad to be part of the team!

Since I am no longer in the field I almost didn't respond... but then that just wouldn't have been in character!!

I do not work the field, I dispatch only. I enjoy what I learn from these open forums. The senario's are best.... due to no field experience this NREMTB has to get some information from somewhere! I spend a lot of time reading and I take classes for my recert as appossed to just takeing the test. Many classes that I take are out of my scope of practice but it is what is avalible to me and I am put to the test to learn... I injoy it!!

[Richard B the EMT]

Someone said they have 36 types of calls? Good. On authority of the FDNY's Office of Medical affairs, we in the FDNY EMS, run with more than 50, with CAD recommendations for ALS, BLS, or both.

Some are administrative, with several just for broke down ambulances, mechanical with engine, flat, electrical, and even one for stuck in snow (I know I have mentioned, on another string, being placed off service for that when my partner tried using our ambulance as an off road vehicle, which it decidedly AIN'T, into sand).

Our call takers use a flip card system best described as closely based on Dr. Clawson's, which is the flip card system used by the majority of call takers. I'll presume that the FDNY's flip card system was authored based on those recommendations from our Office of Medical Affairs, combined with local and state protocols.

[brentoli]

Frame of Reference for this discussion:

http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...ight=emd#108354

http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...emd&start=0

[Richard B the EMT]

Brentoli, if you are saying I sometimes repeat myself, yes, I probably do! Note my number of postings, and remember that I can't remember ALL of them. And my apologies to those who are offended by my repeating myself, repetitively, and repeatedly!