Accuracy of judgment of urgency as perceived by emergency medical dispatch centres in Denmark- a quality assurance study

Abstract

Background: Since 2011, dispatch of the emergency pre-hospital resources has been performed by health care providers. The dispatch of the prehospital resources takes place using a criteria-based nationwide dispatch system, The Danish Medical Aid Index. 1 Andersen M.S. et al. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013 Jul 9; 21: 53 Crossref PubMed Scopus (96) Google Scholar This is a tool that classifies the patients into 37 different symptom groups system to determine the level of urgency required. 1 Andersen M.S. et al. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013 Jul 9; 21: 53 Crossref PubMed Scopus (96) Google Scholar Following prehospital contact with the Emergency Medical System, an electronic medical record is created. This record includes variables such as type of response and response time, vital parameters, treatment, etc. Furthermore, the electronic medical record system enables the emergency medical technician (EMT) to provide feedback to the dispatcher by reporting whether the condition reported by the dispatcher matches the findings at the scene.