Any call a crew is dispatched to has all the past medical info of the patient available immediately on the tablet in the ambulance or on the crew members mobile phone, allowing them to save valuable time when treating a patient. Using the app cuts a considerable amount of time off the call, and allows for faster dispatch of crews. It also allows a chat option in any language, and facilitates communication with deaf or mute callers. Details such as previous medical history, ECGs, medication and allergies can be entered by the patient along with the patient’s own details and their family members’ details.ĭialing via the app allows for GPS location of the call to appear in the Command and Control program, as well as the patient’s medical file. It’s a fast and efficient way to dispatch MDA crew, and the app stores all the patient’s details, along with those of the patient’s immediate family.
The MyMDA app is available free to anyone in Israel. If a dispatch center goes offline–for any reason–all the calls and all the ambulances can still be dispatched from a different dispatch center. The advantages of a national, custom-made system are significant. Any dispatcher in Israel in any dispatch center can see all ambulances, manpower and available resources throughout Israel. The call is handled in the Tel Aviv dispatch center by the chief of the shift, exactly like it was taken in Tel Aviv, since all the info is in the same system. The speed of this response is largely made possible by advanced telecommunication systems that locate the first available call taker in any of Israel’s 10 dispatch centers regardless of the caller’s location.Ī unique aspect of MDA’s dispatch is that all the centers work on the same system, therefore if someone calls and gets through to a different region, the call taker can still assist and receive the caller’s information.įor example: A caller in Tel Aviv who calls MDA may actually be answered by a dispatcher in Jerusalem, because the time to answer the call in Jerusalem at that moment is shorter. To reduce abandoned calls, the average time taken to answer a call in the dispatch center stands at only three seconds.
The dispatcher can also see the location of any nearby police and fire vehicles, as well as use the social app Waze to locate an accident or any traffic problems.
The Control and Command program allows dispatchers to locate the caller via GPS, transmit information such as previous conditions of the patient, live pictures and video from the scene and even a chat option in as many languages as are covered by Google’s translation services. All dispatch center employees, both call takers and dispatchers, are either EMTs or paramedics, and have some experience in the field.ĭispatch center technology is developed in house, and offers some of the leading technology in dispatch centers today. In Israel, the phone numbers for each of the emergency services are different. All dispatch center employees are either EMTs or paramedics, and have some experience in the field.