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3440 Emergency Dispatch Research Workshop: Engaging a Forgotten Professional Population in Research
- Alissa L Wheeler, Isabel Gardett
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- Journal:
- Journal of Clinical and Translational Science / Volume 3 / Issue s1 / March 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 March 2019, p. 69
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OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Emergency (911) dispatchers are the first link in the chain of care for the estimated 240 million emergency calls made each year. Yet even as emergency medicine, public safety, and public health have seen increasing study, emergency dispatch has very seldom been included in that research. Part of the reason is that, while emergency medicine is connected with hospital physicians and public health with university departments, emergency dispatch is largely invisible, not represented in university programs, and staffed by professionals without research training–and often without higher education or academic degrees. The purpose of our Dispatch Research Workshop is to engage these professionals in guided research projects of their own design, with the ultimate aims of both engaging more emergency dispatchers in research and increasing the field’s overall capacity to generate evidence-based practice. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The workshop is help in tandem with a national Emergency Dispatch conference. Participants are recruited through advertisements in professional journals and relevant social media sites. The workshop is co-led by members of a partnership between the nonprofit organizations the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch and the UCLA Prehospital Care Research Forum, along with the dispatch data aggregation company FirstWatch. The Workshop occurs over two eight-hour days, and participants generally have no research experience or background. By the end of the second day, groups have developed research questions and methods, begun to write IRB proposals, and created data collection and analysis plans. Throughout the remainder of the year, research mentors support the completion of the project, and completed projects are presented at the following year’s conference and submitted (if desired) for publication. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: During the first two years of the workshop, 36 attendees participated (17 the first year and 19 the second). Three successful attendees of the first workshop helped lead the second as research mentors. Three research projects were completed from the first year; all three were presented as posters and are now being prepared for publication as manuscripts. Four projects have emerged from the second year’s workshop. Assessments and one-on-one interviews with participants at the end of each workshop have led to continuous change and improvement in the delivery of the material, as well as the outline of a year’s worth of support materials, which is currently in development. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Developing a true evidence base for practice in emergency dispatch will serve all of our communities, and feedback from our participants (as well as significant existing research in practitioner-engaged research) indicates that those who participate in research have a better understanding of the value of evidence-based practice, are more likely to adopt it, and are more likely to raise questions and test theories in their own professional life. Also, providing these practitioners the opportunity to conduct and publish research raises their stature and the stature of their profession, helping it achieve its rightful place alongside other professions in public safety and health.
Can a Software-Based Metronome Tool Enhance Compression Rate in a Realistic 911 Call Scenario Without Adversely Impacting Compression Depth for Dispatcher-Assisted CPR?
- Greg Scott, Tracey Barron, Isabel Gardett, Meghan Broadbent, Holly Downs, Leslie Devey, EJ Hinterman, Jeff Clawson, Christopher Olola
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- Journal:
- Prehospital and Disaster Medicine / Volume 33 / Issue 4 / August 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 July 2018, pp. 399-405
- Print publication:
- August 2018
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Introduction
Implementation of high-quality, dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DA-CPR) is critical to improving survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, despite some studies demonstrating the use of a metronome in a stand-alone setting, no research has yet demonstrated the effectiveness of a metronome tool in improving DA-CPR in the context of a realistic 911 call or using instructions that have been tested in real-world emergency calls.
HypothesisUse of the metronome tool will increase the proportion of callers able to perform CPR within the target rate without affecting depth.
MethodsThe prospective, randomized, controlled study involved simulated 911 cardiac arrest calls made by layperson-callers and handled by certified emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) at four locations in Salt Lake City, Utah USA. Participants were randomized into two groups. In the experimental group, layperson-callers received CPR pre-arrival instructions with metronome assistance. In the control group, layperson-callers received only pre-arrival instructions. The primary outcome measures were correct compression rate (counts per minute [cpm]) and depth (mm).
ResultsA total of 148 layperson-callers (57.4% assigned to experimental group) participated in the study. There was a statistically significant association between the number of participants who achieved the target compression rate and experimental study group (P=.003), and the experimental group had a significantly higher median compression rate than the control group (100 cpm and 89 cpm, respectively; P=.013). Overall, there was no significant correlation between compression rate and depth.
Conclusion:An automated software metronome tool is effective in getting layperson-callers to achieve the target compression rate and compression depth in a realistic DA-CPR scenario.
Scott G, Barron T, Gardett I, Broadbent M, Downs H, Devey L, Hinterman EJ, Clawson J, Olola C. Can a software-based metronome tool enhance compression rate in a realistic 911 call scenario without adversely impacting compression depth for dispatcher-assisted CPR? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(4):399–405
Hospital-Confirmed Acute Myocardial Infarction: Prehospital Identification Using the Medical Priority Dispatch System
- Jeff J. Clawson, Isabel Gardett, Greg Scott, Conrad Fivaz, Tracey Barron, Meghan Broadbent, Christopher Olola
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- Journal:
- Prehospital and Disaster Medicine / Volume 33 / Issue 1 / February 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 December 2017, pp. 29-35
- Print publication:
- February 2018
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Introduction
Early recognition of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can increase the patient’s likelihood of survival. As the first point of contact for patients accessing medical care through emergency services, emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) represent the earliest potential identification point for AMIs. The objective of the study was to determine how AMI cases were coded and prioritized at the dispatch point, and also to describe the distribution of these cases by patient age and gender.
Hypothesis/ProblemNo studies currently exist that describe the EMD’s ability to correctly triage AMIs into Advanced Life Support (ALS) response tiers.
MethodsThe retrospective descriptive study utilized data from three sources: emergency medical dispatch, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and emergency departments (EDs)/hospitals. The primary outcome measure was the distributions of AMI cases, as categorized by Chief Complaint Protocol, dispatch priority code and level, and patient age and gender. The EMS and ED/hospital data came from the Utah Department of Health (UDoH), Salt Lake City, Utah. Dispatch data came from two emergency communication centers covering the entirety of Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, Utah.
ResultsOverall, 89.9% of all the AMIs (n=606) were coded in one of the three highest dispatch priority levels, all of which call for ALS response (called CHARLIE, DELTA, and ECHO in the studied system). The percentage of AMIs significantly increased for patients aged 35 years and older, and varied significantly by gender, dispatch level, and chief complaint. A total of 85.7% of all deaths occurred among patients aged 55 years and older, and 88.9% of the deaths were handled in the ALS-recommended priority levels.
ConclusionAcute myocardial infarctions may present as a variety of clinical symptoms, and the study findings demonstrated that more than one-half were identified as having chief complaints of Chest Pain or Breathing Problems at the dispatch point, followed by Sick Person and Unconscious/Fainting. The 35-year age cutoff for assignment to higher priority levels is strongly supported. The Falls and Sick Person Protocols offer opportunities to capture atypical AMI presentations.
,Clawson JJ ,Gardett I ,Scott G ,Fivaz C ,Barron T ,Broadbent M .Olola C Hospital-Confirmed Acute Myocardial Infarction: Prehospital Identification Using the Medical Priority Dispatch System . Prehosp Disaster Med.2018 ;33 (1 ):29 –35 .
Outcome Accuracy of the Emergency Medical Dispatcher's Initial Selection of a Diabetic Problems Protocol
- Jeff Clawson, Greg Scott, Weston Lloyd, Brett Patterson, Tracey Barron, Isabel Gardett, Christopher Olola
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- Journal:
- Prehospital and Disaster Medicine / Volume 29 / Issue 1 / February 2014
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 December 2013, pp. 37-42
- Print publication:
- February 2014
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Introduction
Diabetes mellitus, although a chronic disease, also can cause acute, sudden symptoms requiring emergency intervention. In these cases, Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) must identify true diabetic complaints in order to determine the correct care. In 911 systems utilizing the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS), International Academies of Emergency Dispatch-certified EMDs determine a patient's chief complaint by matching the caller's response to an initial pre-scripted question to one of 37 possible chief complaints protocols. The ability of EMDs to identify true diabetic-triggered events reported through 911 has not been studied.
ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study was to determine the percentage of EMD-recorded patient cases (using the Diabetic Problems protocol in the MPDS) that were confirmed by either attending paramedics or the hospital as experiencing a diabetic-triggered event.
MethodsThis was a retrospective study involving six hospitals, one fire department, and one ambulance service in Salt Lake City, Utah USA. Dispatch data for one year recorded under the Diabetic Problems protocol, along with the associated paramedic and hospital outcome data, were reviewed/analyzed. The outcome measures were: the percentage of cases that had diabetic history, percentage of EMD-identified diabetic problems cases that were confirmed by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and/or hospital records as true diabetic-triggered events, and percentage of EMD-identified diabetic patients who also had other medical conditions. A diabetic-triggered event was defined as one in which the patient's emergency was directly caused by diabetes or its medical management. Descriptive statistics were used for categorical measures and parametric statistical methods assessed the differences between study groups, for continuous measures.
ResultsThree-hundred ninety-three patient cases were assigned to the Diabetic Problems Chief Complaint protocol. Of the 367 (93.4%) patients who had a documented history of diabetes, 279 (76%) were determined to have had a diabetic-triggered event. However, only 12 (3.6%) initially assigned to this protocol did not have a confirmed history of diabetes.
ConclusionsUsing the MPDS to select the Diabetic Problems Chief Complaint protocol, the EMDs correctly identified a true diabetic-triggered event the majority of the time. However, many patients had other medical conditions, which complicated the initial classification of true diabetic-triggered events. Future studies should examine the associations between the five specific Diabetic Problems Chief Complaint protocol determinant codes (triage priority levels) and severity measures, eg, blood sugar level and Glasgow Coma Score.
. ,Clawson J ,Scott G ,Lloyd W ,Patterson B ,Barron T ,Gardett I .Olola C Outcome Accuracy of the Emergency Medical Dispatcher's Initial Selection of a Diabetic Problems Protocol . Prehosp Disaster Med.2013 :28 (6 ):1 -6