CT Seeks To Curtail The Use Of Sirens By EMD

[x635 4,066]

State looks to curtail sirens

 

By Martin B. Cassidy

Staff Writer

July 26, 2004

GREENWICH -- Police officers who dispatch ambulances in Greenwich are implementing procedures to better gauge the urgency of a patient's condition and provide instructions on emergency medical care before police and ambulances arrive.

The changes, mandated by the state, are intended to reduce the number of unnecessary high-speed squad car and ambulance responses for non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

Using a binder of flip cards exhaustively covering symptoms, dispatchers now ask callers scripted questions to get information to determine how sick a patient is, said Sgt. Jeffrey Moran, of the police department's training division. Moran is overseeing adoption of the new system.

Based on the number and combination of symptoms a patient is suffering, the guidelines indicate whether a high-speed, lights-and-sirens response is warranted, Moran said.

Dispatchers began using the flip cards this year. A computerized version of the system will be added within two months, allowing the department to keep records of emergency calls to evaluate performance.

"It will be a great tool for reviewing the quality of our response," Moran said.

The town hired Priority Dispatch of Salt Lake City, Utah, to certify its 18 dispatchers in the new procedure during a three-day training session, Moran said. The state paid for the seminar, but the town paid each officer about $400 in overtime. The company is one of several vendors the state has approved to provide training and materials under the new law.

The changes, required to be adopted by the state's 107 emergency dispatch centers by July 1, should mean greater safety for both ambulances and the motoring public, said George Pohorilak, director of the state Department of Safety Office of Statewide Emergency Telecommunications.

"The advantage of it is that you reduce the number of accidents that may occur as a result of lights and sirens responses," Pohorilak said.

Moran said the changes brought about by the new policy may be less dramatic in Greenwich than in other towns. Greenwich dispatchers are all certified emergency medical technicians and used that training to ask questions to prioritize response and give step-by-step life-saving instruction.

Now they will use the written instructions on the flip cards instead of relying on their EMT training.

Charlee Tufts, executive director of Greenwich Emergency Medical Service Inc., said town police dispatchers already categorized calls accurately, but the program should reduce the number of unwarranted emergency responses.

"This formalizes the process and adds a quality assurance to it," Tufts said. "I would emphasize our first desire is to make sure we can get to a life-threatening situation as rapidly as possible, but we also have an obligation to respond as safely as possible."

Last year, GEMS responded to about 4,500 calls, of which 3,700 required medical transport, Tufts said. The average response time was 4.3 minutes.

"If all the statistics and experience that people have had across the United States are right, we will be responding more safely," Tufts said. "Lights and sirens are extremely important if you have a life-threatening emergency, but if you don't, this makes all the sense in the world."

Under the new system the scripted questions used by dispatchers to determine the condition of patients will make prioritizing the calls more uniform, Chief James Walters said.

"This just makes it a little simpler and cleaner in what our officers are telling callers," Walters said.

Walters is concerned about the cost and principle of being required by law to use one of a group of approved private vendors to recertify officers.

Recertifying the dispatchers in two years could cost $6,000 or more, Moran estimated. 

Copyright © 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. 

[CHIEFPHIL 90]

This is gonna become a joke. . Right now our dispatchers are giving us codes to respond to. We just had a 12 Delta 11..No one in the bus knew what it was. We have to spend hundreds of dollars to get these guides, money that was not budgeted for. So we kinda know what we are responding to. Now each responder in Ct must flip thru a 20 page flip chart to figure out what they are resppnding to. One of the worst things I have seen is that some of codes are the same as chase cars. Talk about confusing. This is what a typical dispatch will be like in CT...

XYZ dept respond to a 15 Charlie 34 at 2 main st. Thats all the info you are allowed. Wait till we have to use codes to talk to the doc's over C-Med

Dont get me wrong, I like the EMD program and am in favor of it. The article in the paper did no justice to the operational problems that it has started.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Wow, what a way to take a system that utilizes resources appropriately and can reduce emergency vehicle and rebound accidents and make it totally confusing and unrealistic.

A simple regular chief complaint and a "code" for response would do. Code 2/3 lights/sirens no lights/sirens.

Thanks for the personal insight!

[Remember585 815]

EMD is great, if I'm not doing it.

It's a process that in some cases delays dispatch - in my opinion.

But enough about that, what about the use and abuse of ALS in Westchester.

Got no EMT? ALS will handle!

Got an inexperienced EMT? ALS will handle!

Need help lifting? ALS will handle!

With ALS (Not meaning "A Lazy Solution) being sent all over the county for calls they are not needed on, we run the risk of not having ALS there when we truly need them.

Sorry folks, I had to complain - it has been weeks since I did.... #-o

[Guest alsfirefighter]

585,

Its not complaining when your speaking the truth. Nothing aggravates me more then not getting cancelled when its a obvious BLS level call and the fact that many BLS agencies are becoming ALS dependant and its hurting assessment skills of EMT's big time.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

PS: EMD doesn't delay dispatch if you have a system that utilized both a call taker and dispatcher. Plus in most of Westchester there may be a delay while a crew is assembling for response.

[mikeinet 37]

Northern NY (IE: Ondagaga county) has been doing this for YEEEAAARRS.

This system *does* work great, and greatly reduces un-needed emergency situations.

To what CHIEFPHIL said, yes, the EMD cards do have a "Code" for the dispatch, but that doesn't mean it has to be used. I don't hear anyone in the Syracuse Area use them... we use a Priority System, and it works great.

Priority 1 - Life Threatning (IE: Cardiac Arrest)

Priority 2 - Threatning but maybe not ALS (depending the orginization, mine that is only BLS wouldn't dispatch ALS to a P2, but P1 is automatic ALS - these are calls such as serious cuts)

Priority 3 - lesser priority, NO LIGHTS/SIRENS - (IE: General Sickness)

Priority 4 - Interfacility Transfer - NO LIGHTS/SIRENS

This system does work great, it may affect responce times of course, but why do you need an ambulance to zoom around town for someone who has flu symptoms? It helps make everything more efficient/safe.

The computerized EMD system is called ProQA in case anyone was wondering.