EMS World

JAN 2018

EMS World Magazine is the most authoritative source in the world for clinical and educational material designed to improve the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care.

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EMSWORLD.com | JANUARY 2018 19 has first contact with the person request- ing assistance. The dispatcher decides whether to send a medical rescue team or not; if not, they give instructions for further proceedings. The national EMS law specifies who can become a medical dispatcher and the job tasks involved. Dispatchers collect information through procedures for answering calls and dis- patching rescue teams. Interview algo- rithms contain questions and recommen- dations to support decision making based on best current medical knowledge. In Poland there are several guidelines for dis- patchers, so the dispatcher chooses what's appropriate or leaves it to the discretion of the "head," who is responsible for proper functioning of the dispatch center. Regulations define dispatcher qualifica- tions. A medical dispatcher in Poland may be a person who has at least a second- ary education in the profession of nurse or paramedic and was trained in dispatch- ing and has been employed for at least five years providing care at a hospital emergency department or emergency medical services in a hospital emergency department or department of anesthesi- ology and intensive care. Like paramed- ics, dispatchers must undergo additional vocational training such as improvement courses and seminars. Command Support Poland's first SWD PRM (the command support system for the national emer- gency medical service) was introduced at our station, WSPR Gorzow Wielkopolski, on June 23, 2016. It initially included the disposal of six ZRM, but currently medical dispatch manages and has 17 ZRM in the city of Gorzow Wielkopolski, plus helicop- ter EMS (labeled as Lifeguard 24). SWD PRM functioning in our station consists of several modules: • Administrator—This covers user rights management and regional ambulance data for particular administrators. • Dispatcher—For receiving and man- aging requests from the emergency numbers, 1-1-2 and 9-9-9; direction of medical rescue teams in the areas of operation. • Mobile—Receiving calls from the dis- patcher on a tablet computer; com- pleting departure documentation; cre- ating medical documentation; updating ZRM statuses. • Reporting—Reporting. • Place of stationing—Starting and ending duty (system log-in and log-out), abil- ity to take orders, ability to complete departure data. The Ministry of Health has prepared a draft of changes to the rules governing the national emergency medical service. Among the changes it seeks is to remove private medical companies from the pro- vision of emergency medical services and introduce motorcycle rescue crews for cer- tain times of the day and year. The ambu- lances will have three-person crews but no doctors. Conclusion The occupation of paramedic is relatively young in Poland, but leaders intend to provide paramedics with a wider range of skills and increase their powers, making the profession increasingly independent. This will require constant improvement of their abilities, as they are responsible for the lives of patients. But in the rescue envi- ronment and other medical areas, views of the future often entail a medical system in which paramedics play a greater role. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Rajtar has 14 years of experience as a paramedic-driver and 9 as medical dispatcher for SOR in Gorzów Wielkopolski, medical rescue crews in Szczecin, and in Berlin, Germany. He currently works at the provincial emergency station in Gorzów. For More Information Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

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