Clark County Sheriff's Department Holds Informational Meeting on Emergency Medical Dispatch
Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 -- 10:54 AM
-The Clark County Sheriff’s Department recently held an informational meeting for local media on the Emergency Medical Dispatch.Priority Dispatch, implemented in September of 2016, is a combination of Emergency Medical Dispatching, or EMD, and the Medical Priority Dispatch System. A critical purpose of priority dispatch is to create for the EMS system the same benefit that a lens creates for a camera. Priority dispatch is the lens for EMS. All initial information comes through it. Priority dispatch provides the capability to focus clearly on each situation, eliminating inconsistency and vagueness through its standard, precise approach to each call. Clark County had to put a variety of things into place before Priority Dispatch was implemented including a Dispatch Steering Committee, a Dispatch Review Committee and a Quality Improvement Unit.
A three day course was required as training for all dispatchers, with recertification after 2 years, plus CPR certified and there is always continual quality improvement to the system. Dispatchers who follow the EMD program follow nationally recognized standards, give universal and consistent care to every caller, identify life-threatening situations, gather critical information, prioritize the calls and provide pre-arrival and post-dispatch instructions. The department also went over the procedures each dispatcher follows in a typical 911 call.
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