New EMS dispatching system rolling out next month

Calls for Paramedic Services in the Essex-Windsor region will be triaged and dispatched using a cutting-edge Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) beginning Sept. 16, the Essex-Windsor EMS announced last week. 

The new system is designed to ensure that paramedics are dispatched more efficiently, and more quickly, to the most urgent, life-threatening emergencies, the EMS service announced in a press release last week through the County of Essex. 

MPDS is a software-based system used by Ambulance Communications Officers to triage 911 calls based on the severity of the medical condition. This system, successfully implemented by the Ministry of Health in several municipalities across the province, is backed by decades of research and evidence and helps Ambulance Communications Officers make more informed decisions, the press release added. 

“MPDS is designed with one clear purpose: to make sure that people experiencing lifethreatening emergencies receive help as quickly as possible,” said Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Justin Lammers. “It helps ensure that someone who is experiencing an urgent or life-threatening event receives an ambulance ahead of someone dealing with a non-urgent, non-life-threatening injury.”

One feature of MPDS is that Ambulance Communications Officers will ask more questions of 911 callers to help determine the urgency of the situation so that ambulances can be sent where they are needed most, when they are needed most. 

Because MPDS prioritizes calls based on urgency, patients with nonlifethreatening conditions will, at times, wait longer for an ambulance — especially during periods when paramedic resources are stretched.

Ambulance communications officers will remain in contact with these patients to monitor their condition and ensure they can safely wait for care, the release added.

“This isn’t a flaw in the system,” said Lammers. “It’s the system working exactly as intended to protect lives and preserve critical paramedic resources for the people who need them most.”For more information on the new Medical Priority Dispatch System and a list of Frequently Asked Questions, please visit www.countyofessex.ca/mpds. 

New EMS dispatching system rolling out next month

Special to the RTT