Dispatchers need debriefs, too

by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 11, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News

A career in public safety is not about being a hero in the spotlight, but the fact is that first responders often find themselves in the “starring role” of many incidents, some traumatic. And while the type of first responder in the spotlight will differ from incident to incident depending on the type of emergency at hand, there is one branch of emergency services that rarely finds itself the focus of attention: emergency telecommunicators.

Despite the significant level of responsibility dispatchers bear in any type of emergency event, they are essentially invisible. Their lack of on-scene presence often makes them more of a disembodied information source than a team member. This invisibility can lead to several issues, including a lack of post-incident analysis and debriefing…

A registry-based observational study comparing emergency calls assessed by emergency medical dispatchers with and without support by registered nurses

by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 11, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News

Our results demonstrate that more precise emergency medical dispatching, measured as dispatch priority, accuracy, and medical condition, was not obtained when an EMD had the support of an RN. EMDs working without an RN dispatched most of the calls with the two highest priorities, while when supported by an RN, the proportion of Priority 1 calls was substantially lower. Concordance in the assessment of priority was higher between the EMD and ambulance when the calls were assessed by the EMD alone. Undertriage was observed more often in calls assessed by an EMD with support from an RN…