Mr Brent Armitage1, Mr Marco Antoniazzo1
1NSW Ambulance, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Mr Brent Armitage is the Control Centre Director at NSW Ambulance.
Abstract:
NSW Ambulance has implemented a new way for Emergency Medical Call Takers (EMCT’S) to verify phone number and address details for patients (geolocation).
The previous process had the EMCT confirm address and phone number at the start of the call to confirm it was correct. The revised process now defers repeating back the address and phone number for confirmation until after the job is sent to the relevant dispatch boards queue.
Prior to commencing implementation, a Proof of Concept and significant research was undertaken which included but was not limited to, confirmation of IAED standards, cross jurisdictional agency engagement, analysis of First Key Stroke to incident in Queue data and small staff participated focus groups. State-wide changes were made to the geolocation process on 24 October 2023.
One of the ways we measure performance on Triple Zero (000) calls is through First Key Stroke to Queue (FKS-Q). This measures the time between the moment an EMCT interacts with a Triple Zero (000) call, until the incident is sent to the dispatch boards queue.
An evaluation post implementation has identified a sustained reduction of Priority 1 FKS-Q times for all Centres by 14.1 seconds. A decrease of 10.8%. This reduction in times has enabled ambulances to get patients quicker.
Beyond the statistical improvement above – EMCT’s broadly comment that since the implementation that it has led to a reduction in caller frustration at the start of Triple Zero (000) calls, promoting a more satisfying experience for staff and callers.