Emergency call dispatch in Rhineland-Palatinate integrated control centers

This article provides insights into the history of the emergency call, principles of scheduling dispatches, and quality management activities in integrated control centers in Rhineland-Palatinate. The present emergency system in Germany has developed from its beginnings in the 1970s into ahighly professionalized cornerstone of emergency care. In addition to the further development of intelligent operation control systems, the requirements for dispatchers have also steadily increased. For example, they provide emergency assistance by phone in the event of an emergency, which may include teaching resuscitation by using aSOP (standard operating procedure) that is available in the operation control system in order to reduce the therapy-free interval until the arrival of ambulance personnel. In general, emergency responses are handled immediately and primarily taking into consideration the current locations of rescue equipment in scheduling dispatch. In contrast, patient transports are dealt with in synergy with economic, medical, and scheduling factors. The operation control center is completed by several quality assurance tools; the nationwide unoccupied beds register provides anaccurate image of hospital's possibilities of admitting patients. The emergency services relocation system is organized as an algorithm to guarantee transfer transports which are accompanied by an emergency physician. To record downtime, deregistration of emergency physicians vehicles are documented online. In addition, there is aSOP in case of a special emergency service alarm, which was devised in the event of asupraregional emergency; here the emergency service is closely linked with the units of civil protection to satisfy all requirements in the event of a mass casualty incident.