HOT OFF THE PRESS
911 center gets national recognition
By Matthew Santoni
Baltimore Examinor (Md.)
April 15, 2008
Harford County’s Emergency Operations Center became the first in the state to be certified by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch after completing a six-month audit of its 911 operators.Since October the 67-person EOC had been using standardized lists of questions from the National Academies on every 911 call to determine the proper level of emergency response, said R. Ross Coates, public safety communications manager.
If a caller is complaining of chest pain, a computer program or a clipboard checklist has questions about the callers’ symptoms that the dispatcher must ask. Based on the caller’s answers, the response can range from a basic life support team to a full paramedic unit, Coates said.
Dispatchers add aspirin recommendation to protocol
MANATEE COUNTY (Bay News 9) (Florida)
March 16, 2008
Manatee County 911 dispatchers are going to start advising people with chest pains to take aspirin.
Laura Liddell, who is training the dispatchers, said there's strong evidence showing that immediate aspirin therapy may reduce heart damage in certain heart attack patients.
"Basically what we can do before the ambulance gets there, the less things they have to do," Liddell said. "So it expedites their treatment on scene."
The 911 dispatchers will start using the new protocol on March 20.
The National Academies of Emergency Dispatch studies show that early administration of aspirin benefits more patients than it may compromise.
Dispatchers won't recommend aspirin to patients if: they are not alert, are under 16 years old, have had an allergic reaction to aspirin before or if there's a possibility they suffer from internal bleeding.
Rarely do dispatchers advise patients to take anything before paramedics arrive, but aspirin administration will be added to their protocol.
click here for story and video
Endowment Funds Use of Priority Dispatch System Protocol
What's an optimal characteristic of superior emergency response?
It's the Priority Dispatch System (PDS), of course.
At least that's the foor in the door communications centers in North Carolina need for an emergency service grant through the state's Office of EMS (NCOEMS) Phase II EMS Toolkit project, funded through the Duke Endowment. This project provides funding in the amount of $2,000,775 during year one and an additional $395,145 during year two for a total requested amount of $2,395,920. During the first project year, NCOEMS will distribute these funds through a competitive process that is expected to provide PDS Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) program protocol to 20 to 30 EMS systems. According to the EMS Toolkit Web site, NC EMS systems were able to choose from one of three projects:
* Implementation of Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD).
* Enhancement of an existing Emergency Medical Dispatch program.
* Implementation of the 5 EMS System Response Time Policies:
o EMS Dispatch Center Time Policy
o EMS Wheels Rolling Time Policy
o EMS Turn Around Time Policy
o EMS Vehicle Maintenance Plan
o EMS Data Submission/Completion Policy
The Duke Endowment, located in Charlotte, seeks to fulfill the legacy of James B. Duke by improving lives and communities in the Carolinas through higher education, health care, rural churches and children's services. With assets of over $3 billion, the endowment has awarded more than $2.2 billion in grants since its inception in 1924.
You can find out more about the EMS Toolkit project by clicking of the following link:click here
Media articles about the Endowment and the subsequent use of PDS products will be posted to this site and they can be accessed by clicking on the following link: click here
Live Aspirin Diagnostic Call Provided by Dane County
"Compliments of Dane County Public Safety Communications Center, Madison, Wisconsin, using the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System v11.3 Protocol"
Aspirin Diagnostic Lauded
Mo. dispatch to tell chest pain callers: take aspirin
By Susan Weich and Mark Schlinkmann
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Nov. 21, 2007
Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Take one aspirin and wait for the ambulance.
That's the advice 911 callers with chest pain may get in St. Charles County starting Dec. 1, and dispatching services in other parts of the area are considering following suit.
While the aspirin direction isn't surprising, it is new for St. Charles County dispatchers, who usually tell patients to refrain from taking over-the-counter medications or eating or drinking anything before paramedics arrive.
The new instruction was issued recently by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch, a medically approved agency that provides guidelines for what dispatchers say.
Aspirin helps improve blood flow to the heart in patients experiencing any acute coronary syndrome, said Dr. Jeff Clawson, co-founder of the national group.
See the story ems1.com posted click here
Take an aspirin before ambulance arrives
Belleville News-Democrat (Missouri)
Oct. 13, 2007
Those calling Abbott EMS to report heart attack symptoms now may be told to head to their medicine cabinet and take an aspirin before the ambulance arrives.
Karl Juntunen, manager of Abbott's dispatch center, says the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), recently released its Aspirin Diagnostic and Instruction Tool to help EMS dispatchers determine when to advise the administration of aspirin. The NAED recommends using this potential life-saving tool whenever a patient reports chest pain or heart attack symptoms.
"It is felt that pre-hospital administration of aspirin by protocol to patients with acute coronary syndromes will significantly improve the consistency and timeliness of its administration," said Dr. David Tan, Abbott's Missouri medical director.
Both he and Dr. Thomas Byrne, Abbott's Illinois medical director, have authorized their dispatchers to use the new NAED guidelines, which include chewing a 160- to 325-milligram aspirin if the person has no aspirin allergy or history of gastrointestinal bleeding.
In 2006, Abbott EMS, which serves Madison and St. Clair counties, received a grant from the two Belleville hospitals to buy heart monitors that could definitively identify an active heart attack.
"Since aspirin has been shown to reduce overall mortality in heart attacks, our authorization for Abbott's dispatchers to follow the aspirin protocol is an appropriate and logical next step in the pre-hospital care process," Byrne said.
