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When does 'Dispatch' time start?

By Rodney Gentry posted 05-06-2011 17:09

  
So when does dispatch time start? Does it start as soon as you pick up the phone to answer 911? Does it start when you get an address? Does it start when you have a incident type/determinant code? Does it start with a pre-alert message? Does it start after tones? Does it start after your radio alert message? So many variables, yet there are so many agencies that rely on these statitics for accreditation, staffing, and ultimately funding.

So when is the correct time that the 'clock' should start ticking for a call to be dispatched? Consider this, in the past 10 years, the amount of wireless callers have increased - while the amount of wireline callers have drastically decreased (no big news there). However, with wireline, we reached a comfort zone for a while. Sure we had to verify the address, and the phone number based on ALI, but we were (most of the time) ready to go with the incident details. Then came wireless [dramatic music inserted here]! Phase 1, Phase 2, regardless - now we have to wait for the caller to know where they are calling from, or rely on a mapping of the lat/long to be able to plot an address or place to send the help. This inherantly takes time! This time is eating into the 'clock'!

NFPA 1221 would have you believe that '95% of all emergency dispatching should be completed within 60 seconds' (Source:  NFPA 1221 6.4.3 v.2002). This standard was actually written in 1999. 1999, I remember that year well - it was still the infancy of true Phase 1 and 2 Wireless 911. It was a time when prodominantly everyone still had a wireline phone in their house. Yet, most Fire Agencies would have you believe this standard should still apply. I'm not disagreeing, however - I would argue that this standard needs to be re-evaluated even past the 2002 revision. Heck, even if it was written in 2009 - its outdated. Did I mention VOIP! That's a whole other blog!

Back to the topic at hand - our center is part of a fast growing area of population and development. Part of the Central Virginia area, Hanover County is just north of Richmond, and about an hour south of DC. Everything is sandwiching us, and we have to adapt. Our Fire/EMS agency is looking at getting accredited, and this discussion has come up. We have implemented EMD and EFD (Priority Dispatch). Even though this streamlines questioning via automation - we are still finding the averages are 90 seconds to get a call out. But, we are counting from the time we pick up the phone.

In my opinion - shouldn't the time begin when you have an address and a valid dispatchable incident type? Should we be pushing APCO and other legislative folks, along with NFPA, NASNA, NENA, and other professional organizations to come together and definatively define [play on words] what the standard should be, or even a 'best practice'?

I'd be interested in seeing the other responses and blogs to this topic.....

Rodney Gentry
911 Support Manager
Hanover County - Viriginia
3 comments
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Permalink

https://www.psconnect.org/blogs/rodney-gentry/2011/05/06/when-does-dispatch-time-start

Comments

Robert Ashley
06-13-2012 08:47

LAFD is currently in the hot seat because of our processing times. We use PROQA and have a very complex tiered response. NFPA primarily deals with fire department issues and is run by fire personnel that usually don't have much experience in 911 call processing and its difficulties. Personally, I do believe most of the time we are able to dispatch within 60 seconds, if we dispatch after the address and phone number are verified and the type of the problem is verified. To me, this makes sense, and is a usable criteria. Once we send the call out, it is out of our hands as to how quickly the units acknowledges the response. This being said, if you have experience with PROQA and your agency allows this software to dispatch the units, then 60 seconds will never be a reality. The questions can be very complex for someone under stress and really don't change the type of response sent, such as an ALS level vs. an BLS level response. PROQA is great at providing pre-arrival instructions, but really makes very little sense in when it dispatches units.

Jim Jones
05-12-2011 08:44

Good article. In regards to EMD, we received authorization to dispatch after the Where and What. So almost every EMD question we ask is post dispatch. This has resulted in our calls getting toned out quite fast. Responding units can be updated with any crucial info while they are en route, and as far as our member agencies are concerned they want very little information that we gather from EMD since they will be asking the same questions once they are on scene whether we have asked them or not.
Our chiefs also want us to send the ticket after our voice dispatch is complete.

Jason Kern
05-09-2011 10:06

This statistic and compliance with NFPA 1221 is a difficult one to grasp. I strongly believe this was written by fire personnel that don't have a solid understanding of 911 Communications. There aren't many software programs out there which will truly capture your times. Your comments on EMD are spot on and due to this in our EMS Region, we've received authorization from the PMD to dispatch after asking the first 5 questions, which reduces our time. Also, depending on your tones, this could add 15-30 seconds to a dispatch.
This is how we do it... Call Processing is considered CAD Call For Service creation to Dispatch. Response time is from Dispatch to On Scene. Previous fire administration requested that we didn't press "dispatch" until after the call was toned and our script was recited twice to reduce their en route time. Great for them, not so good for us.