Profile of emergency medical dispatch calls for breathing problems within the medical priority dispatch system protocol.

Introduction: A common chief complaint to emergency dispatch communication centers worldwide is "breathing problems". The chief complaint of breathing problems represents a wide spectrum of underlying diseases, patient conditions, and onset types. The current debate is on the potential ability of a dispatch protocol to safely and with high specificity, differentiate patients with minor or non-critical conditions from those conditions that pose risk to the patient and require advanced life support evaluation and care.

Effect of a Medical Priority Dispatch System key question addition in the seizure/convulsion/fitting protocol to improve recognition of ineffective (agonal) breathing.

Objective: To investigate the impact of a new assessment question in the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) seizure protocol on the ability of the Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) to identify the presence of agonal or ineffective breathing.

Methods: A retrospective comparative study was conducted using two datasets-each representing two versions of the MPDS protocols (version 10.4 and version 11.

Ability of the medical priority dispatch system protocol to predict the acuity of "unknown problem" dispatch response levels.

Objective: To determine if Medical Priority Dispatch System's (MPDS's) Protocol 32-Unknown Problem interrogation-based differential dispatch coding distinguishes the acuity of patients as found at the scene by responders, when little (if any) clinical information is known.

Methods: "Unknown problem" situations (i.e.

The Medical Priority Dispatch System's ability to predict cardiac arrest outcomes and high acuity pre-hospital alerts in chest pain patients presenting to 9-9-9.

Objective: To establish emergency medical dispatcher (EMD) predictability of cardiac arrest (CA) and high acuity (blue in - BI) outcomes in chest pain patients by using the Medical Priority Dispatch System's (MPDS) priority levels, and its more specific clinical determinant codes.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was done on a one year's worth of aggregate 999 call data comprising number of patients, calls, incidences, and outcomes (as determined by paramedics) obtained from the London Ambulance Service (LAS). We used Fisher's exact test to establish and quantify associations (through odds ratios, 95% CI and p-values) between MPDS priority levels and patient outcomes, stratifying by various pairing of MPDS priority level determinant codes.

Accuracy of emergency medical dispatchers' subjective ability to identify when higher dispatch levels are warranted over a Medical Priority Dispatch System automated protocol's recommended coding based on paramedic outcome data.

Objectives: To establish the accuracy of the emergency medical dispatcher's (EMD's) decisions to override the automated Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) logic-based response code recommendations based on at-scene paramedic-applied transport acuity determinations (blue-in) and cardiac arrest (CA) findings.

Methods: A retrospective study of a 1 year dataset from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) National Health Service (NHS) Trust was undertaken. We compared all LAS "bluing in" frequency (BIQ) and cardiac arrest quotient (CAQ) outcomes of the incidents automatically recommended and accepted as CHARLIE-level codes, to those receiving EMD DELTA-overrides from the auto-recommended CHARLIE-level.

Cardiac arrest predictability in seizure patients based on emergency medical dispatcher identification of previous seizure or epilepsy history.

Objective: To determine predictability of at-scene cardiac arrest from a dispatch determined patient history of seizure or epilepsy ("E" history).

Design And Methods: A retrospective study of a 1 year dataset from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) National Health Service (NHS) Trust was undertaken. Each of the nine determinant codes on the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) seizure protocol [Heward A, Damiani M, Hartley-Sharpe C.