References
Use of specialist paramedic dispatch in emergency ambulance control
Abstract
Optimising patient care through the delivery of specialist resource allocation at the point of injury improves patient outcomes. As identified by the NHS, high-quality call handling and dispatch of the right response, first time, is critical to these outcomes (
Aim:
This article presents an objective literature review and critical analysis of the evidence base concerning clinical dispatch. This study aims to highlight key differences between the triage and dispatch processes of specialist resources, to establish if the evidence supports the use of one model to manage these resources, and to ascertain best practice.
Method:
A structured literature review was undertaken and thematic analysis was used to explore the findings of the literature, leading to the establishment of recommendations for best practice in this area.
Results:
The literature discourages dispatching specialist teams based solely on computer-aided dispatch software codes, and recognises that specialist paramedic dispatchers have a better understanding of the clinical and ethical challenges of appropriately dispatching specialist, finite resources.
Conclusion:
The literature supports the use of clinicians in dispatching specialist resources to best meet the needs of those patients who are critically ill or injured.
Essential elements of delivering high-quality prehospital care include ‘efficient call handling, robust call prioritisation and intelligent tasking of resources’ (Thurgood and Boylan, 2013: 3). This demonstrates the critical role that dispatch provides in the chain of survival for critically ill or injured patients, and where the patient's journey begins. Historically, ambulance services have used their patient response times to determine the quality of the service they have delivered. This method, however, changed based on the findings of the Ambulance Response Programme (Turner and Jacques, 2018). The new model advocates responding to the sickest patient the quickest, while providing a more appropriate response to other patients (Turner and Jacques, 2018).
In the UK, ambulance services select the software they wish to use in control centres to triage and allocate emergency calls. While other packages are available, the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS) is widely used in the UK (Bohm and Kurland, 2018).
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