PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister Emil Lee of Public Health, Social Development & Labor would like to applaud and congratulate Mr. Cylred Richardson, Head of the Ambulance Department for taking the initiative to empower his staff to participate in the certification and recertification of an EMD course. The constantly evolving Priority Dispatch System (PDS) will help provide the highest standard of care to the community, allowing Emergency Medical Dispatchers, to better manage limited resources and increase the accuracy and efficiency of the dispatching process.
Ambulance Department Dispatchers took part in a three day certification and recertification training course from Monday February 1st through Wednesday February 3rd 2016 in the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®) to better serve the citizens of St. Maarten in emergency situations. Several Police Dispatchers were also in attendance.
Dispatchers were trained in using the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ which: follow internationally recognized standards, give universal, consistent care and service to every caller, gather critical emergency call information for responders, identify life-threatening situations, safely prioritize calls for appropriate and fast response and provide “Zero Minute” Dispatch Life Support using Pre-Arrival and Post-Dispatch Instructions.
Using the Medical protocol enables dispatchers to accurately assess each emergency situation and increases safety for both citizens and responders. One key benefit of the Ambulance Department dispatchers is to provide a constant stream of crucial and updated scene information to field responder’s en-route to an emergency call. This information will better prepare responders to give precise assistance when they arrive at the scene.
The Priority Dispatch System™ (PDS™) includes cardsets, a three-day certification training course for emergency dispatchers, and continual quality improvement (QI) benchmarks and training. All dispatchers who work within the system are certified by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) and must recertify every two years, completing 24 hours of continuing dispatch education (CDE) and passing all requirements for IAED recertification.
The certification and recertification training class covered protocol layout, function and use. The dispatchers received instruction on each of the protocols in the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ to include how and why questions are asked in gathering information to assist patients and responders. Dispatchers receive instruction on using Pre-Arrival and Post-Dispatch Instructions to deliver care to patients before arrival of responders. Further, during the instructional time dispatchers also review call management techniques.
Use of the PDS allows communications centers to assess the quality of the care they are providing their communities, allowing them to make positive adjustments to training and staff in response to these assessments. The training was executed by national quality coordinator Mr. Iggi Dulzaides of Priority Dispatch Corporation from USA.
