Parkview Health EMS has achieved a prominent distinction in 9-1-1 emergency communications by attaining International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) status as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE) for its use of the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®). The MPDS is a comprehensive system of providing care via phone, by a dispatcher, prior to first responders arriving to a scene.
When appropriate, this system allows care to be delivered as soon as a 9-1-1 call is made, which may lead to improved outcomes. The dispatcher will ask specific questions and, based on the answers they receive, can provide instructions to the caller to give them the information they need to assist the patient. This distinction places Parkview EMS among the very highest-performing emergency dispatch centers in the world.
“It takes an entire team to achieve this accreditation,” Andrew Hoskins, manager, EMS communications/dispatch, Parkview Health, said. “I am so proud of the way our team came together to demonstrate our continued focus on putting patients first. The ACE distinction confirms our commitment to timely, high-quality care.”
In order to achieve accreditation, dispatch centers must meet or exceed all of the IAED’s rigorous Twenty Points of Accreditation, which requires participation from department leadership to individual emergency dispatchers, and pass a thorough on-site review. Areas that must be documented and/or demonstrated include individual certifications, continuous education, call auditing and compliance, response priorities and training to field EMS and other dispatch centers with whom Parkview works.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into achieving ACE status,” Christof C. Chwojka, chair of accreditation, IAED, said. “We’re certainly proud of Parkview EMS and its accomplishment.”
There are currently 190 emergency dispatch centers in the world that hold the ACE distinction, among the 3,500 dispatch centers using the fire, police, medical and nurse triage protocols for safe and efficient response to a wide variety of emergency situations.
To learn more about the IAED, visit http://www.emergencydispatch.org/.
