Dispatch Officer
Module Functionality Description
This module in the ERC system deals with the service of dispatching the necessary resources to rescue and save the lives of victims in distress such as ALS/BLS Ambulance vehicles. DO receives the complete data of callers and victims captured at CO along with the voice conversation file record. DO has the provision to call back the callers or victims contact numbers captured at CO.
There will be three types of dispatching agents in the ERC for Medical, Police and Fire emergencies. There can be a group of DOs in each category. The dispatching agent performs the job of selection of available resources such as ambulance vehicles in the region of the victim based on the current position and status seen on GIS maps, the live information of ambulances is received through GPS devices fixed on the vehicles.
Similarly, the current status of other resources like hospitals, blood banks, police stations, fire stations etc., on ground are received and shown, and recommended based on the rules defined in the system on GIS maps. DO system intelligently assists the agent performing activity with the necessary algorithms to show the expected time of arrival to the scene based on current traffic conditions. The distance to the 5 (configurable) nearest ambulances from the victim’s location. An algorithm to recommend the ambulance type (ALS/BLS/PTA) to assist the DO is part of the system.
An alert to the DO when there are deviations to the guidelines set in selecting the resources to assign for an incident. All deviations are recorded against that DO and against the incident as well. This information is useful to assess the performance of DO.
The DO will be provided with 2 or 3 screen monitors. One for processing the dispatch activities and the other screens for monitoring the dispatch vehicle, hospital status for follow-up on GIS maps.
DO has the facility to edit the information captured at CO.
DO can ascertain and assign the ambulances when there are multiple patients captured at CO level. Our system has built-in intelligence to recommend the type of ambulance based on the chief complaint of patient’s emergency information captured, ALS or BLS or PTA.
GUI of DO is integrated with softphone dial pad and with hyperlink, system can dial the number clicked on hyperlink, without dialling the digits. And this conversation is tagged to the incident.
Nearby ambulances from the incident location are loaded onto the GIS maps based on HEXAGONAL HIERARCHICAL GEOSPATIAL INDEXING (H3) Library ALGORITHM. H3 Algorithm gives high accuracy of nearest ambulances.
Conference with EMTs: DO can conference with nearby ambulances EMT.
AVLT: DO can have real time ambulance tracking and the status of patient details in the vehicle. ALERTS & ECALATIONS: DO system alerts the DO if an assigned ambulance does not move for a configured time limit. Similarly, based on the vehicle movements and delays in the journey, alerts are escalated to the Supervisor.
MESSAGE COMMUNICATION TO THE CALLER: Whenever DO assigns the ambulance, the details of ambulance assigned is sent as SMS to the caller to assure the caller that the ambulance is on its way to the scene.
Ambulances can be shown to DO right after patient handover to the hospital for the DO to revalidate to assign if the incident location is nearest to the ambulance just got released. DO can release the such vehicles immediately and assign to the new case nearby.
DO can assign the ambulance either using GIS maps or on data window screen.
DO can see the ambulance information on a small window on hovering the cursor, on GIS Maps. Window shows vehicle number, base location EMT number. EMT number is hyperlinked to directly dial from the GIS Map itself.
MASS CAUSALITIES: Usually number of victims are captured at CO, an ambulance assigned for the mass causality will be dispatched and at the same time communication will simultaneously sent to all the nearby ambulances to be on standby. When multiple ambulances are assigned to the Mass causalities incident the other surrounding/nearby ambulances are shown to the further incidents to assign in those areas from where the ambulances are away to the mass causality.
Mass Communication to all the relevant authorities such as DM&HOs, Zonal Officers, Field operations staff etc.
An interface to police and fire stations can be configured to alert the mass causality situation in the area affected.
Feeder Ambulances for Tribal Areas: Based on the incident location DO can identify the nearby feeder ambulances (first responders) on GIS map and in the application screen to assign in all the Tribal Development Agency Areas.
Simultaneously nearby ambulance to the Tribal area is assigned to go to the nearest PHC area to pick the tribal victim carried by the feeder ambulance.
Bike Ambulances: In urban and densely populated areas Bike ambulances can be assigned as first responders.
DO can track the ongoing servicing ambulances for any deviations, alerts and escalations and has provision to take the necessary actions on screen.
Module Features
| S.No | Feature | Feature Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Single Sign on | Login from any system in a multi-application environment. |
| 2 | Incidents Queue | Queue of the incidents dispatched by the CO are displayed at the DO desk in sorted order. This helps the agents/ officers to serve the cases, which are dispatched from the CO. One Officer cannot open an incident if it is being handled by another DO simultaneously, that means only single DO can work on an incident at any point of time. |
| 3 | Integrated GIS System | •The DO application is integrated with the GIS Maps of Google or Map my India or any such providers through third party integration.
• By integrating with the GIS, the system calculates the expected time of arrival (ETA) by considering the current road traffic conditions and recommend the shortest path to reach the incident location. • Data level integration between application screen and maps. • Ambulance Live tracking system (3rd Party) is integrated to DO maps in real time and calculates the distance, response time for the nearest ambulance and to the other nearer ambulances. Our system recommends the appropriate ALS/ BLS / PTA based on distance/ response time and the same is recorded and tag to the incident. • Duplicate calls displayed on maps. |
| 4 | Dispatch Violation Remarks | Violation remarks are captured in two scenarios.
1. Violation remarks for Distance. 2. Violation remarks for wrong ambulance dispatch |
| 5 | Integrated Issue Tracker | 1. Helps the EROs to capture the issues they face from the field while dispatching the ambulances. Issues like Mobile Connectivity Issues, Relay Cases, Patient Handing over issues etc can be captured.
2. This information helps the district operational staff to identify the operational problems. |
| 6 | Assigning Ambulance | The ambulance assignment will be done in multiple ways. From the DO application and from the DO’s GIS maps as well. In case of Mass Casualty, single ambulance is dispatched (as a process) and if more ambulances are needed then the supervisor will assign multiple ambulances to the same incident. The assigned ambulances (ALS, BLS, PTS and Bike Ambulances) are also displayed in the DO application as it helps the DOs when there are no available ambulances displayed or the nearest ambulance displayed is very far from the incident location. In these scenarios the DO can call the nearest busy ambulance’s EMT from the assigned ambulances list and if the EMT is completing the case or if it is in its final status (Patient Handover or returning back to base) then the DO will force release the ambulance and assign the ambulance to the next case. |
| 7 | SMS to Caller and Ambulance Staff (EMT and Pilot) | Once an ambulance is assigned to an incident, the application will trigger an SMS to both Caller and ambulance staff. The caller will receive an SMS with the details of the ambulance (like Contact details, ambulance reg. no, tracking URL etc.) and the ambulance staff (EMT and Pilot) with caller details (like caller name, caller number, Chief Complaint, Incident Location etc.). |
| 8 | Capturing the Time Statuses of the Incident | There is a provision for the DO to capture the Incident Status Timestamps in case the MDT device at the EMT is not working. |
| 9 | Forced Vehicle Release | When there are no available ambulances displayed or the nearest ambulance displayed is very far from the incident location or the ambulance is free but the cases are not closed by EMTs through the MDTs. In these scenarios the ERO will call the EMTs from the assigned ambulances list and if the EMT is in its final status of service (Patient Handover or returning back to base) or free from case then the ERO will release the ambulance and assign the ambulance to the current incident. |
| 10 | Off Road/ Breakdown Ambulances | Displaying the Off Road and Breakdown ambulances for making the ERO aware of the ambulances which are off road in a district. As the off road ambulances are not displayed in the Available and Assigned ambulances list. |
| 11 | Ease of Selecting Standard Remarks | Standard Remarks are the remarks which the DO can select from the drop down after dispatching an ambulance |
| 12 | Reminders | Configuring reminders to DO. DO can schedule notification/ alert/ reminder based on the need for any case. |
| 13 | Softphone integration with GIS Maps | DO can make calls from the GIS Maps by selecting any vehicle with a single click on the map itself. |