What Is Emergency Medical Dispatch?
EMD is a vital link in the emergency response system. In Jefferson County, EMD is currently done by specially-trained personnel at the 9-1-1 dispatch center in Watertown. They respond to 9-1-1 and other emergency calls about a suddenly ill or injured person by dispatching the appropriate medical or rescue personnel (police, fire, ambulance, etc.) to the scene. Medical calls within the city limits are passed to Guilfoyle Ambulance Service for further EMD questioning while Watertown City Fire Department's Rescue truck is dispatched, followed closely by a Guilfoyle dispatch of an ambulance usually with further information on the patient status.
EMDs carefully question the caller in order to determine the type of emergency that exists, the geographical location of the incident, and the extent of any injuries suffered. Emergency medical dispatchers may also be called upon to give a caller instructions over the phone until emergency service professionals arrive. Some examples of this are keeping the victim calm, instructing callers about giving CPR, or delivering a baby, or stopping life-threatening bleeding. They also stay in contact with EMTs in the ambulance so that they can better coordinate with the medical staff at area hospitals.
EMD's follow a standardized system with a special computer program that prompts them to ask questions in a way designed to gain vital information quickly from callers. For example: "Is he able to talk to you?" "Can he talk in full sentences?" "Can I talk to him?"
In less than two minutes, EMD will categorize a call into one of four response levels:
In some jurisdictions, there are also a category of calls where no responders would be sent--instead the caller would be asked to take the patient to an emergency room or other medical care facility--and an "Echo" category for all-out responses for a certain pending death (cardiac or respiratory arrest).
This requires an individual that works well under pressure and is able to solve problems quickly. EMDs must be able to maintain detailed records of information that is received and any services that are needed. Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD), takes care of much of the recordkeeping by saving every answer into the computer case record and dispatch records.
