Guidelines when making 999 Call
You will be asked the following:
1. Case Entry
Telephone number and location of incident.
The Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) will ask you to verify these to ensure they have the correct information and an ambulance can be dispatched at this point in order to save time.
The Chief Complaint. (What is wrong?)
Age of the patient
Is he/she conscious?
Is he/she breathing?
2. Key Questions
These are questions relevant to the Chief Complaint of the patient.
(If you are unsure or do not know the answer it is not a problem and will not delay the ambulance).
3. In case of illness (Patients over 35 years)
Is there any chest pain?
4. In cases of accident or injury
Is there any severe bleeding?
5. Post-dispatch Instructions
These are given if appropriate at the end of the call to advice the caller what they can do to help the patient if they are not a qualified First Aider or Medical Professional.
6. Pre-arrival Instructions
These are protocol driven instructions given for life-threatening emergencies until the arrival of the ambulance.
The EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher) will also require a rendezvous point from you where the ambulance will be met and directed to the patient.
What were your experiences of this system when you needed to dialed 999 for an ambulance?
[Blog first published in 2010]
