Compliance With and Use of Up-to-Date National Academies of Medical Dispatch Medical Priority Dispatch System Protocols in Dispatch Practice and Research Studies Must Be a Requirement

Abstract

To the Editor: We observed significant omissions and errors in the study’s methods/design, findings, and conclusions in the recent paper by Buck et al,1 which we respectfully want to point out. First, the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) protocol version (Version 11.1, valid from 2001 to 2004) used in this study1 is significantly outdated. Three subsequent versions (Version 11.2, valid from 2004 to 2006; Version 11.3, valid from 2006 to 2008; and Version 12.0, valid from 2008 to date) have been issued, each containing significant clinically predictive modifications in the stroke protocol (Protocol 28). Using an outdated protocol is unsafe in a communication center, not the standard of dispatch practice, and misleads readers about the “current” effectiveness of the state of the art of an evolving protocol system. In the MPDS Version 11.1 protocol’s rules at that time, a …